La Ragazza

by Dark (in a feeble attempt to improve my writing because really when you start to write a story and then start feeling insane because the people in it are, you know you need to improve your writing)

Summary: Sawada "Tsuna" Tsunayuki a.k.a. No-Good-Tsuna, never thought that she'd ever be important enough to get a home tutor, let alone one who wanted to turn her into the tenth generation mafia boss of the Vongola family, and the first female one at that. But now in the midst of trying to raise her grades and make new friends, she's finding that there's a lot more to this "Mafia" business than she first thought.

Pairings: GokuderaTsuna, YamamotoTsuna, HibariTsuna, DinoTsuna, MukuroTsuna, LanciaTsuna, BasilTsuna, SqualoTsuna, BelphegorTsuna, XanxusTsuna, maybe OlderRebornTsuna, one-sided HaruTsuna, one-sided KenTsuna, one-sided ChikusaTsuna.

Quote for the Story:
"Be careful what you wish for, for it might just come true, but not in the least the way you expected."

Obiettivo Uno

Quel Ragazzo Dall'Italia

Song listened to while writing this chapter: Breath and Everywhere, by Michelle Branch

Quote of the Chapter:
"Excuse me, but just what do you think you are doing with my children? (smile) Now, kindly, please, unhand them, or I might be forced to do something… unpleasant. (smile, sound of knuckles cracking, then things breaking (like bones))"
-Sawada Tsunayuki, Chapter 91
Moral: When Tsuna's being exceptionally polite, get the hell away from her before she kills you. Oh, and don't mess with her kids.

Italia

The door of the tavern creaked open, and inside, two shady looking men sitting at a table looked up.

"It's Reborn-san… looks like you were called by the old man again," one of them said, taking a puff on his cigarette.

"Must be tough being popular…" the other muttered before raising his voice. "Going to Rome next? Venezia?" he asked.

A young boy, a baby really, was the center of their attention. "Giappone," he answered calmly, his black hat shading his face as his lizard sat atop it.

Other people farther back in the bar started in surprise.

"What!!" someone exclaimed.

"The Old Man must have finally made up his mind!" another said.

"Looks like it's going to be a long journey…" the baby said vaguely.

(SCENE CHANGE)

Japan

In a gym class at school, there a basketball game in progress.

"Tsuna-san, pass!" one of the students called as he threw the ball to another girl on his team.

Unfortunately, the girl didn't raise her arms in time, and so the ball smacked her in the face.

"Oww!" the girl cried out in surprise and pain as she fell to the floor clutching her face as the ball rolled away.

"Not again! Come on Tsuna-san!" some of the others on her team groaned in frustration.

Later after the game had ended, the rest of her team ended up cornering her.

"It's your fault we lost, you know!" one of them shouted at her as the rest just glared.

The girl cowered back from all the glares, a bit scared. She'd been beaten up by the people in her school too many times not to be.

"Sor-sorry," she stuttered, backing up a bit and hoping that they wouldn't beat her up too bad this time.

One of the others students grunted, then told her, "So you do the cleaning, we want to play during our precious after-school time," and shoved a broom in her face.

The girl looked at him wide-eyed, but didn't say anything. This was so much better than being beaten up, but it'd still be hard to do by herself.

"We're counting on you!" one of the other students called back as they all started to leave.

"You can do it, No-Good-Tsuna!!" another called.

The girl looked after them, depressed. She hated that nickname they gave her, but never protested in, because as much as she wished it wasn't, it was completely true.

As she turned to start working on cleaning up, she heard the others voices drifting in through the open door.

"Tests? Flunked them all since she enrolled," one of the teenagers said.

"Sports?" another started, "The team that No-Good-Tsuna's on always loses," he finished.

The girl paled, upset, and clutched the broom she had been given to clean with tighter.

Her name was Sawada Tsunayuki, but mostly every one called her Tsuna-san (when they were being nice) or No-Good-Tsuna (all the other times). She was horrible at studying, thus failing all her classes, and she had no athletic ability whatsoever. She had nothing going for her. Well, she actually did have one thing, but since no one ever looked at her and saw it, she didn't even know that it was a good thing.

And that one thing was her body. She had a great body, enough so to make anyone drool, but since she always wrapped her chest and wore layers of clothes, no one noticed. Of course, she was also almost unbearably cute, but since everyone saw her as 'No-Good' no one wanted to even be her friend.

'Fine, fine,' Tsuna thought to herself as she started to get to work, 'I know I'm just an idiot and I'm not athletic, but that's not the reason that someone like me goes to school. The only reason someone useless like me would go to school is to see someone Sasagawa Kyoko-san.' At that moment, she looked out the window, only to see the very girl she had been thinking about.

Sasagawa Kyoko was someone she looked up to very much, because she was kind, cute, confident, smart, and athletic, everything that Tsuna was not. She was someone that Tsuna wanted to get to know better, but due to her shy and introverted nature, was unable to.

Tsuna paused in her work to watch the girl and her friend, Kurokawa Hana, pass. She watched them for a few moments before another student walked up to them. It was Mochida-senpai. He walked up to the two girls, smiling, and soon after Hana left, leaving the other two to walk away together. Tsuna pouted, annoyed. If the girl she admired was leaving the school, then there was no reason for her to stay at the school either. 'I'm going home…' she thought, before putting the broom away and leaving, the cleaning only half finished.

(SCENE CHANGE)

Sawada House

"Tsunayuki!" Nana, Tsuna's mother called as she walked up the stairs to Tsuna's room, "I got a call from school, they said that you came home in the middle of class again," she complained, "Just what do you plan to do with your life?" she asked her wayward daughter.

"Don't know…" Tsuna replied, uninterested, flipping another page in the book she was reading as she fiddled with the glasses perched on the end of her nose.

"I'm not saying that you have to go to a good high school or college, you know," Nana told her as she walked right into the girls' room.

Tsuna sat up suddenly to glare at her mother, "Don't barge into my room without knocking!" she yelled, annoyed.

Nana ignored her and instead started lecturing again, "You can live your whole life bored and lonely like you are now, or you can live it happily!" she told the girl, who just sighed at her. "I want my daughter to live life feeling, 'It's great to be alive!'" she finished, giggling like a sixteen year old.

Tsuna sighed again. Her mother was crazy. Her father was 'missing'. Her family was so messed up. 'I wish I could just have a normal day for once…' she thought. "Could you not say that in front of people," she complained, "It's embarrassing."

Nana frowned at her for a moment, but then a light bulb seemed to go off over her head and a smile that would have made Tsuna shiver in dread appeared on her face. That was, it would have, if Tsuna had been looking, but she unfortunately wasn't, so she didn't have any warning for what would happen next. Not that it would have helped, but hey, warning is always nice.

"Tsukun!" Nana singsonged, and now Tsuna did shiver. 'What's this feeling of dread?' she wondered, puzzled. Then her mother continued and she knew, "… a home tutor for you is coming today!"

Tsuna spun around so fast she almost hit herself in the face with her long hair. As it was, she did get a bad crick in her neck. "WHAT!!!??" she shrieked, "A home tutor!!?" Oh god, what had her mother done this time!

"There was a flyer in the mailbox," Nana told her smiling happily and oblivious to (or ignoring) Tsuna's distress, "'Will raise your kid to be the new leader of the next generation. Grade and subject doesn't matter, Reborn-sama,'" she read off the flyer. "Isn't it great?" she asked her daughter, "I've never seen a promotion quite like this before," she said.

"It smells like a scam!" Tsuna growled at her clueless mother, annoyed. She didn't want a tutor, and having one wouldn't help anyway.

"It's probably a tutor from a professional business school," Nana told Tsuna, completely ignoring her daughters loud –and repeated- protests, "I've always wanted a teacher like that for you."

Tsuna turned away, still annoyed at her mother for making decisions for her without her consent, "Don't create your own image of him!" she scolded her mother, before going back to her original protests, "I refuse to have a tutor, okay? I'm not good at anything I do anyway, and having a tutor won't change any of that!" she shouted.

"Ciaossu."

Both Tsuna and Nana looked up when they heard a voice speak. There wasn't supposed to be anyone there, the two of them lived in the house by themselves.

Looking down, Tsuna spotted a small little boy, little older than a year or so, in a black tuxedo with a small lizard on his hat.

A thing little known about Tsuna, not that anyone would care, was that she loved cute things, and whenever she saw one, she had the urge to glomp it. It wasn't usually a problem, normally; she could restrain herself from doing it. Being at school helped, as she didn't want to embarrass herself even more there, but if it was cute enough, being at school wouldn't matter.

But, right now, she wasn't at school, and the little boy in front of her was just too cute to resist. So, naturally, she glomped him.

And, normally, Reborn would have dogged. He was a highly trained assassin after all.

But, you see, Tsuna hasn't missed in her life, and no one, not even a trained mafia assassin, was going to change that.

And so, before he knew what was happening, Reborn found himself being forcefully clutched to the chest of a squealing thirteen year old girl. And though he was surprised, it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be.

Reborn looked up at the girl who held him as she picked him up, cuddling him to her chest and beaming happily as she said something in a high speed to her mother. "Oh, Kaa-san, look, he's so cute, can we keep him, can we, pleeeassee?" the girl, Tsunayuki he thought it was, begged, turning pleading eyes on her mother as she gently rocked him in her arms.

It was surprisingly nice, and Reborn could feel himself drifting off to sleep, but no, he needed to stay awake. Now was not the time to sleep.

Before the bewildered looking mother could speak, Reborn interrupted. "Actually, I'm Reborn-san, the tutor," he said.

Both of the women looked at him in surprise.

Tsunayuki raised one eyebrow at him, looking very confused, "But, that can't be true, you're just a cute little boy…" she started, before her face lit up. "Oh, I get it; you're just playing a game, right? Well, I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can learn from you," she said.

Reborn sighed. He was getting tired of being underestimated. Tsunayuki seemed like she was a nice girl, but she needed to learn her lesson. One did not underestimate Reborn.

A quick elbow jab to the girls' stomach made her left go, coughing, before a quick jab at her neck sent her into unconsciousness. "Well, let's get started," Reborn said to the stunned mother as he let the girl fall to the floor, "This is the room, right?"

(SCENE CHANGE)

Sawada House

"Nn…" Tsuna groaned as she woke up, only to find herself on the floor, her stomach aching like she'd been hit. 'What happened…?' she wondered, before remembering. There had been a little boy, and then he'd hit her… but why? Looking around, she found that the little boy was lying on her bed, fast asleep.

"Eh…?" she wondered vaguely, before moving to kneel beside the bed. "Hey, wake up," she told the little boy, "What you did wasn't very nice and I'd like to know why-" she reached a hand out and shook the boy lightly, only to suddenly find herself slammed onto her back as the little boy grabbed the bow on her school uniform and used it to slam her into the floor.

Tsuna groaned in pain, "What are you doing!?" she asked, sitting up slowly.

"I have no openings," Reborn told her, "My true line of work is assassination," then, he opened the brief case he had with him and in a flurry of motion put something together in his hands. "My name is Reborn-san, and my real job is-" suddenly he was done, and there was a gun in his hands, "-to make you a mafia boss."

Tsuna just stared at the little boy who had until just seconds ago been just that. "Wha-what?!" she asked, "A mafia boss?!"

"I was assigned by a certain man to train you to become an astounding mafia boss," Reborn told her calmly, like he did it every day.

Tsuna just stared at him. His gun was pointed at her, she noticed vaguely. "…Is your head okay?" she asked, wondering if the little boy really was crazy.

Reborn didn't respond. "The method was left up to me," he said, "should I shoot you once?" he asked suddenly.

Tsuna jerked back, "Wha? Hey!" she shouted, waving her hands wildly.

"But not now," Reborn said, moving his gun so that it pointed straight up instead of at Tsuna.

Tsuna just looked at him in surprise. 'Wha…?' she thought, but then the boys' stomach rumbled and she understood. He was hungry. Tsuna watched as he walked out the door, calling, "Later!" over his shoulder.

Tsuna sighed, trying to relax now that he was gone. She sat down on her bed, removing her glasses and placing them aside so that she could rub her eyes wearily. She winced when the movement made her back and abdomen ache. She hoped that the two of them didn't meet again. As cute as the boy was, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to survive another encounter with him. 'Hopefully, Kaa-san's learned her lesson…'

Sighing again, Tsuna started to limp her way down stairs and to the door.

"Tsuna-chan, what about dinner?" Nana asked as her daughter passed by.

"I don't want it," Tsuna told her, "I'm going to eat out, can I please have some money?" she asked, before remembering something. "And about that tutor…" she started, finally turning to face her mother.

"Hm?" Nana asked, just as Tsuna noticed that Reborn was sitting at the table, already eating. "The contract states that Reborn-kun will live here until your grades go up," Nana said, smiling.

Tsuna almost, almost, face-faulted.

(SCENE CHANGE)

The Road To School

Tsuna sighed as she walked to school the next day, Reborn trailing after her. "Why are you following me?" she asked him, "Don't you have to go to grade school?"

"Assassins don't go to grade school," Reborn told her bluntly.

"Please quit the assassin act already…" Tsuna started, before she spotted something out of the corner of her eye that made her jump behind a building.

Reborn looked at her curiously before looking at where Tsunayuki had glanced. All he saw was a girl around the same age as Tsunayuki. What was going on?

Suddenly the girl spotted him, and her eyes lit up in much the same manner as Tsunayuki's had the night before, just before Tsunayuki had glomped him.

"Kyaaaa!" the girl cried, crouching down to his level, "How cute!"

"Ciaossu," Reborn greeted, glad that she hadn't attempted to glomp him as well.

"Why are you wearing a suit?" the girl asked.

"Because I'm in the mafia," Reborn told her.

"Waaaah!" the girl said cheerfully, "How cool!" Suddenly she stood up, dusting herself off. "Well, I've got to go. Good luck. Bye bye," she said, waving.

"Ciao ciao," Reborn said, waving back.

As soon as the girl was gone, he turned back to Tsunayuki. "Mafia seduction," he told the girl, who just stared at him with a raised eyebrow. Reborn sighed. "You admire that girl, don't you, Tsunayuki-san?" he asked.

Tsunayuki twitched. "Don't call me that," she said automatically, ignoring the rest of the question, "Call me Tsuna-san please," she told him.

"Fine, Tsuna-san. You admire that girl, don't you?" Reborn repeated.

Now the girl seemed to hear him. "Is it any of your business!?" she asked him, a flush spreading over her pale cheeks.

"I've mastered the art of mind reading," he told her, which really had nothing to do with what she'd asked at all.

"That's enough," Tsuna finally said, a blush spread across her face, "Please just leave me alone," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder subconsciously.

"No," Reborn told her, then grabbed the hand from her shoulder and twisted Tsuna's whole arm behind her back.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Tsuna whimpered as her arm was twisted painfully, "Alright, I give! I give!" she shouted. She sighed in relief when Reborn let go of her arm, before starting to talk. "Sasagawa Kyoko-san is our school's idol," she told Reborn, "We're not even on the same level, so it's useless to do anything," she finished, a bit wistfully.

Reborn stared at the girl for a moment. "That loser complex is simply amazing…" he finally said.

"Oh, leave me alone…" Tsuna pouted, looking away.

"It's finally time…" Reborn announced darkly.

"Huh?" Tsuna wondered, and turned back to look at Reborn, only to be faced with point of a gun.

"Die," Reborn said, pointing the gun steadily at Tsuna's head.

"A toy, right?" Tsuna asked, shaking slightly. It did look pretty real…

"Go and die once," was all Reborn said.

"What are you doing? Stop messing with me already! I don't even see the point in me getting killed!" Tsuna shouted at the boy.

"You'll know when you die," was all Reborn said, and pulled the trigger.

As the bullet went speeding towards her and then entered her skull, Tsuna regretted.

'I'm… going to die… I'm leaving this world… What a waste. If I'd had the will of the dying, I probably could've become friends with Sasagawa Kyoko-san. I should've at least tried

with a dying will.'

All this happened in a single second, and Reborn stood by calmly, watching. A scream sounded behind him, but he payed it no mind, so focused was he on the 'dead' girl before him.

Suddenly, the body started to move, and then equally as suddenly, a body burst out.

It was Tsuna, clad only in her underwear, some bindings around her chest, and a short see-through white shift. There was a red burning flame on her forehead, and her eyes were completely white.

"REBORN!!!" she shouted an angry expression on her face as she burst out of her old body.

"I'm going to make Sasagawa Kyoko-san my friend with my dying will!" she shouted, her face set into a determined expression.

There was mumbling in the background and the strange 'Reborn' Tsuna suddenly realized something. "Why am I naked?" she wondered aloud, but then moved on, "Well, it doesn't matter, where's Sasagawa Kyoko-san!?!" she asked, before running away without waiting for an answer.

"It's dying will time," Reborn announced happily, smiling.

(SCENE CHANGE)

Highway

'Reborn' Tsuna sped down the road without a care for anything but finding Sasagawa Kyoko. This turned out to be a bad idea when she hit an intersection, where she crashed into a delivery man and went flying over the rail at the edge of the road.

"This. Won't. Stop. Me." Tsuna grunted out as she fell, struggling to flip over so that she didn't fall on her head. Finally, she reached the ground, only to fall right on top of Mochida, who was talking to Sasagawa Kyoko.

"Oh?" Tsuna wondered, "Found coincidentally," she said, staring at the surprised girl.

"Sasagawa Kyoko-san!" 'Reborn' Tsuna shouted, making the girl start, "Please be my friend!" she shouted forcefully, stretching out her hand and making quite a scary picture covered in twigs, scratches and one large bleeding gash on her forehead, and clad only in her underwear.

Kyoko stared at Tsuna for a moment before she screamed and ran away.

Suddenly, the boy that she had fallen on punched her in the chin, crying, "You bastard!" as he did so.

Then he picked up his things and ran away, calling back at Tsuna, "You've gotta be kidding me! You freak!"

Then, as Tsuna lay there clutching her chin, the flame on her forehead went out and her eyes regained their gold color.

'Oh no…' she thought, 'I just asked Kyoko-san to be my friend in such an odd way… she'll hate me now for sure!' As consumed as she was by her thoughts Tsuna didn't notice Reborn coming up beside her.

"The dying will lasts 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, you revert back to normal," Reborn told Tsuna, startling the girl out of her misery.

"Ah!" Tsuna yelped surprised. She opened her mouth to say something else, but instead she sneezed, a bullet then falling into her hand. "A-a bullet!" Tsuna shouted in alarm, "So I was shot in the head after all!" she cried, one hand going up to feel her head as if to make sure there wasn't a gaping hole there.

"Yes," Reborn told her calmly. "This bullet," he continued, holding up the bullet as he did so, "Is the Dying Will Bullet. A person that is shot with this bullet will resurrect with the Dying Will after dying."

"What?" asked Tsuna, shocked. Well, who wouldn't be, after they'd just been shot?

"Your Dying Will is based on what you are regretting when you die," Reborn explained.

Tsuna looked frightened at the information. "But what… what if I wasn't regretting anything…?" she asked nervously.

"I am an assassin," was all Reborn said in response as he turned away.

"I would've died!!?" Tsuna cried out in shock and fear. 'Oh god, I would've died!!' she wailed in her mind.

Suddenly, Tsuna realized something. She was sitting in the middle of a busy street in only her under clothes and shift. A shift which was very short. A shift that was also white and very see-through. Stifling a cry of embarrassment, Tsuna quickly crossed her arms over her chest and ran home.

(SCENE CHANGE)

Sawada Home

"What did you do!?" Tsuna shouted at Reborn, past caring that he looked like just a very cute little boy.

"I can't go outside anymore! I can't even look at Sasagawa-san anymore!" she shouted, huddled on her bed and her hand gripping her hair in a vain attempt to keep her head from feeling like it was going to explode. Then she turned on Reborn. "I had no intention of talking to her either!" she shouted at him.

"You mean you wanted to, but couldn't, right?" Reborn asked, unperturbed.

"Sh-shut up!" Tsuna told him, embarrassed as she held a hand over Reborns' mouth in an attempt to stop him from talking.

Moments later, she was once again on the ground and in pain.

"I'm going to sleep now," Reborn told her cheerfully.

"Oww…" Tsuna moaned, "I was fine when the bike hit me…" she said, thinking aloud and wondering how this could hurt so much when she'd been beaten worse by the kids at school before.

"You had the Dying Will at that time," Reborn told her, "Dying Will means your body is in a state wherein all safety switched are off," he said, "So in exchange for risking your life by breaking your limits, you can harness amazing strength."

Tsuna thought about that for a minute. "So… it's sorta like adrenalin, right? That boast that people get when their life is in danger?" she asked.

Reborn nodded. 'So she's not as stupid as she seems…' he thought, a little please. That was good. Then he wouldn't have so much work.

"But I've never even heard of a Dying Will Bullet!" she told the boy.

"The Dying Will Bullet is a specialty passes down through the Vongola family," Reborn informed the girl, who looked even more confused.

"Vongola family?" she asked curiously.

"I was assigned by the Vongola family's 9th generation boss to come to Japan and raise you to become a mafia boss," Reborn said, completely serious.

Tsuna thumped down on her bed with a heavy thud and a sigh. 'His story is insane…' she thought, 'But I did just experience the Dying Will Bullet…'

"Vongola the 9th is getting old and he was planning on passing on the boss status to the 10th generation," Reborn continued, oblivious to her thoughts, "But the most qualified of the 10th generation, Enrico-san, was shot in the field," he stated, holding up a picture of a man with black hair who had been shot to death. Tsuna shrieked, but Reborn ignored it. "The young number 2, Matsumo-san, was drowned," he held up another picture, eliciting another shriek from Tsuna. "And the favorite child, Federico-san, was found reduced to bone," he held up another picture, but this time Tsuna was ready for it and had covered her eyes.

"You don't have to keep showing them!" she told him.

"So the only candidate left to be the 10th is you," Reborn told her.

"What!?" Tsuna shouted in surprise, "Why is it like that?!" she asked him. She really, really, really, didn't want to be in the mafia.

"The Vongola family's 1st boss retired early and crossed over to Japan. That was your great great great grandfather. So, you are part of the Vongola bloodline and a legitimate boss candidate," Reborn explained.

"What are you talking about?" Tsuna questioned, "I've never heard about this."

Reborn, who was already undressed and putting on his sleepwear, was unconcerned. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll make you into a fine mafia boss," he assured her, "After all, I've done it before."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Tsuna shouted at him, she didn't even want this! "There's no way I'll ever do it!"

Reborn wasn't listening. "I'm going to sleep," was all he said, "If you interrupt my sleep, you'll die, so be careful," And with that cryptic warning, he climbed into her bed and fell asleep.

Wondering what he meant, Tsuna looked around and noticed that Reborn had set up traps. "Don't set traps in the house!" she yelled at him, "And don't sleep in my bed!"

When she got no response except for a snore, Tsuna sighed, then started to get ready for bed as well. If Reborn really was going to stay there until her grades went up or he made her into a mafia boss, then she would have to learn to live with him, because neither of those things was going to be happening anytime soon.

(SCENE CHANGE)

School

'What should I do if Sasagawa-san sees me?' Tsuna wondered as she entered the school and turned into her classroom.

Unfortunately, she didn't get any more time to think, because as soon as she entered the room, catcalls, whistles, and jeers greeted her.

'Oh god,' she thought in horror, 'They know…' Quickly, she turned to leave and return home, only to find her way blocked by several upperclassmen from the Kendo club.

"Whoa, you can't go home yet," one of them said to her, "Captain Mochida-senpai is waiting for you in the dojo."

Tsuna stared at them in horror, but before she could try to run away, she was hoisted up by one of the group and carried off. "Wait!" she tried, but they ignored her.

"Off to the dojo!" they called as they went.

The rest of the class ran off behind them, interested in seeing what would happen, or more accurately, in seeing Tsuna get a beating.

"Mochida-senpai is avenging the disrespect you were treated with yesterday," Hana told Kyoko as they both watched what was going on.

Kyoko turned to her friend, confused.

"He says, 'I won't forgive anyone who makes Kyoko-san cry,'" Hana continued.

"That's… I'm just in the same leadership class as him!" Kyoko told her friend, "And I didn't cry!"

"Now now, don't be too hard on yourself," Hana told her, "Guy's belong to a guy's world, after all!" she said cheerfully. Then, pushing Kyoko along ahead of her, "Let's go watch!"

(SCENE CHANGE)

School Gym

"There you are, you stalker!" Mochida called as soon as he saw Tsuna, "God may forgive a piece of shit like you, but I won't!" he shouted, "I shall smite you!"

Tsuna shivered from where she was being held in place by two members of the Kendo club. Mochida was dressed in full Kendo gear, and acting completely serious. She was soooo dead.

"Don't worry, it's an easy duel that even an idiot like you can understand," Mochida informed her, pointing his Shinai at her, "You're a novice at Kendo, so if you can get an Ippon off me, then you win! If you can't, then I win!" he told her confidently. "The prize is of course, Sasagawa Kyoko-san!!"

Tsuna bristled. You didn't treat people like prizes! But still, the thought wasn't enough to make her want to fight.

In the audience, Kyoko and Hana bristled as well.

"Pri-prize!!??" Kyoko cried out, annoyed.

"What a jerk," Hana agreed.

Kyoko started to stalk towards the Kendo captain, but was stopped by her friends. She struggled against them, telling them to let go.

Up on the floor again, the Kendo captain was talking to himself. "I'm the lead in this battle," he said, "No matter what happens, I won't lose to that bitch," he chuckled darkly. 'The armor and Shinai that Sawada Tsuna-san is going to use has enough weight in it that even two people can barely carry it,' he thought, 'No matter what happens, he won't raise Sawada-san's red…' he chuckled to himself again. 'Not that I'd lose anyway, but this way I can totally humiliate her, and I might even get to see something good…'

Mochida looked around, ready to start, and noticed something. "Eh? Where's Sawada-san?" he asked aloud, not seeing the little bitch anywhere.

"She said she wanted to go to the bathroom, so I let her go," one of the other members of the Kendo team answered.

"She ran, huh…" another member concluded upon hearing that, "She does the toilet escape a lot."

"No doubt," agreed another.

"God, that No-Good-Tsuna…" yet another complained.

Mochida listened on in rising glee. "So I get a forfeit win!" he cried out gleefully, "Kyoko-san is mine!"

The rest of the Kendo team stared at him as he laughed almost manically.

"What a dirty senpai," one commented.

"And I thought all the senpai were smart," another agreed.

(SCENE CHANGE)

School Hallway

Tsuna sighed as she walked down the empty hallway on her way out to go home. 'There's another episode engraved in the history of my useless life…' she thought, frowning in sadness. "Well, it's all right, I can't always win…" she told herself in a vain attempt to lighten her mood.

Suddenly, she felt something catch around her ankle and she had just a moment to wonder what it was before it jerked and she was flung up and suspended in the air.

As she looked around to see what had happened, Tsuna tried to hold the short skirt of her school uniform up, trying to make sure that she didn't flash anybody with her underwear. The looking around confirmed what she had first thought; her leg had been caught in a rope which had been tied to the ceiling. When she had stepped on it, the trap had been set off and now she was hanging upside down off the ceiling.

"Ciaossu," Tsuna heard a voice say in front of her, and she looked up, dreading what she knew she would see.

And it was, indeed, "Reborn-kun!" she cried, "What are you doing here!?" she half asked half shouted, almost forgetting to hold up her skirt but remembering at the last moment.

"I'm watching to see if you're acting like a mafia boss," Reborn told her, and Tsuna noticed that he was holding onto the other end of the rope that was attached to her ankle. "It's a chore, but don't worry about it," Reborn continued, "You and I have a relationship."

"What do you mean by relationship!?" Tsuna cried out, "I'm just worthless, so leave me be!"

Reborn frowned. "Don't misunderstand," he said, "My relationship with you…" he paused and drew something out of his pocket, "…Is as a hitman and a target."

And suddenly a gun was being pointed in her face. "Wa-wait!!!" Tsuna cried, waving her hands in front of her face and completely forgetting about her skirt.

"Die."

As the bullet hit her and entered her skull, Tsuna regretted.

'I'm… going to die… I'm now parting with the world… what a waste.

If I had the will of the dying, I probably could've beaten even Mochida-senpai…

I'll do it.

I'm going to do it.'

"No matter what!" 'Dying Will' Tsuna roared as she burst up from her old body, "I will get Ippon!!"

With that, 'Dying Will' Tsuna sped down the hallway towards the gym.

"Ready!" she cried as she threw the doors open and burst into the gym, ignoring the cries of shock and the jeers and whistles that her new attitude and choice of clothing was getting her from the audience.

'Dying Will' Tsuna ran straight at Mochida, ignoring the two Kendo members who tried to get her to stop and put on the armor or give her the sword as she did so.

Mochida stared at her in surprise before bursting into laughter. "Only an idiot would run in naked!" he told the girl, tears of mirth streaming down his face.

Then, suddenly, he turned serious. "Did you think I'd hold back just because you're a girl and a novice?!!" he shouted, "Eat this!" he cried, and slammed his Shinai right down on the girls' head.

Mochida had expected her to go down from his blow, but instead, to his surprise, she kept coming straight at him.

"DAAA!!!" 'Dying Will' Tsuna cried out as she slammed both her Mochida's Shinai and her head into Mochida's forehead, knocking him down. 'Dying Will' Tsuna snorted, before leaping forward and onto her opponent, landing on his midsection and smashing him painfully into the floor.

"Mount position!?" one of the other students cried out in shock.

"What's he going to do!!?" another wondered loudly.

'Dying Will' Tsuna raised her hand above her head, her hand flat and palm facing sideways.

"It's a chop!" a student exclaimed.

"She's going to hit a men!" shouted another.

'Dying Will' Tsuna roared as she brought her hand down.

There was a shout of pain, and then everyone stared in stunned silence.

"I got Hyakupon!!" 'Dying Will' Tsuna shouted forcefully, holing up her hand, in which she gripped a fistful of Mochida's hair, which she had ripped off.

For a second, there was silence, but then the crowd burst into laughter and loud cheering. "That's smart, Tsuna-san, he never specified what you had to get Ippon off of!" one of the other students cheered.

"How's this?!" 'Dying Will' Tsuna demanded of the referee, who just screamed in fear. "Darn it!" she swore, turning back to her opponent and ripping off even more hair until Mochida was completely bald. "Zembupon!" she told the referee, who immediately raised his flag.

The crowd went silent in amazement at the same moment that the flame on Tsuna's forehead went out.

"Amazing!" someone cried, "She actually won!"

Suddenly, everyone was swarming her, congratulating her on her match.

Tsuna was oblivious to them, staring at her hands and stuck deep in thought. 'I did it…?' she wondered, 'I can even beat senpai if I have the Dying Will?' Then, suddenly, she realized that she was surrounded by people. 'Unbelievable… I'm the center of attention…'

"Tsuna-chan," a voice behind her called out, and she flinched, closing her eyes.

'Kyoko-chan… she's mad about yesterday…' she thought, and waited to be yelled at.

"I'm sorry for getting scared and running away yesterday," the other girl apologized, to Tsuna's surprise.

"Eh!?" she exclaimed, shocked, "Oh, uh, um!" she stuttered, trying to think of something intelligent to say.

"My friends tell me that I don't know when to laugh…" Kyoko told her nervously, a hand behind her head in embarrassment.

'She thinks it was a joke!' Tsuna realized, a bit disheartenedly. But that changed with what Kyoko said next.

"You are incredible," she said earnestly, "You're not just some average girl."

Tsuna stared at her in wide-eyed surprise. 'Is this all his doing…?' she wondered, thinking of Reborn, 'The things that that guy says and does are crazy, but if it weren't for him, this wouldn't be possible…' she realized.

(SCENE CHANGE)

Sawada House

"I did it, Reborn-kun!" Tsuna cried as she entered her house at the end of the day, "I became friends with Kyoko-chan!"

When no one answered, Tsuna headed up to her room, wondering where the little boy could be. Luckily, he was in her room, sleeping.

"Oh, you're here!" she exclaimed, walking towards him, "Hey, Reborn-kun!"

Suddenly she felt something catch o her foot. Looking down, she realized that it was a wire, and that wire was attached to yet another trap.

"Oh, no…" she muttered, right before the trap went off, and her room exploded.

Reborn remained sleeping through the whole thing, floating away from the scene of destruction on a parachute.

Crawling out of the rubble, Tsuna muttered a vow to herself, "I will never be in the mafia."

Now that Tsuna's life has been placed in the passenger seat with death, however will she survive?

(THE END)
for now

A/N: Hope you like my new story; hopefully I will be able to update it soon.