Summary: Tsuna loses his eyesight in a freak accident as a child. Ten years later, the young brunette still dreams of a day when he will be able to see again, all the while knowing that it's impossible. When that day really does come, though, he can hardly believe it. He will finally be able to see the people who have stayed by him all these years; he will finally be able to see the faces of his beloved guardians. AU.
SkyGem: This idea came out of nowhere and I found it interesting so I decided to take a small break to write it, even though I'm way behind in my word count. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.
Eight-year-old Tsuna turned his head, looking for a familiar face in the darkness. He was sure that his eyes were open, but why couldn't he see anything? Hot tears rolled down his face as he whipped his head from side to side to side, feeling scared. "D-dad? Grandpa?" he called in a trembling voice. "Mommy!"
When no one answered, the little brunette curled up into a tight little ball, sobbing quietly. Before long, though, he heard what sounded like footsteps running towards the room he was in.
"Tsuna!" called a familiar voice, and the young heir turned his head to the sound of his father's voice.
"Daddy!" he cried, reaching into the empty air.
Before long, he felt strong arms wrap him into a protective hug and a comforting voice saying, "Oh, Tsuna, thank god you're awake. The doctors said you might stay in a coma for the rest of your life. We were so worried."
"Daddy," he sobbed again, looking up at his father through sightless eyes. "Daddy, why can't I see anything?"
There was a sharp intake of breath, and suddenly, Tsuna felt his father's comforting arms disappear from around him. Scared at being all alone again, he groped around, trying to find Iemitsu's warmth again.
After a moment, he found one of his father's arms and followed it to the torso, where he clung on for dear life.
After just a moment of hesitation, Iemitsu embraced his son again, his mind racing.
His son had gone blind.
Takeshi Yamamoto sprawled casually on a sofa in his boss's room, reading a form Tsuna was supposed to sign. Upon finishing the reading, he called back, "It's a bill for something Kyoya broke on his last mission in Sweden."
Shaking his head in exasperation, Tsuna waved his rain guardian over. "I wish I could tell him to be careful, but I know he would never listen to me."
"Then get rid of him," growled another voice as his storm guardian walked into the room, bearing a tray of sweets and three cups of tea. Despite having moved to Italy from Japan almost a year ago, they all held on to their preference of the subtle taste of tea over the bitterness of coffee.
"You know I can't do that," replied Tsuna with a small chuckle, reaching for one of the cups.
"Doesn't hurt to try," replied a slightly amused voice. Underneath the amusement, though, a current of excitement could be heard in the storm guardian's voice, and Tsuna could also hear the sound of his shuffling feet. Hayato had some news to share.
After taking a sip of tea, Tsuna shook his head again in exasperation, a fond smile on his face. "Spit it out already, Hayato."
His friend didn't seem at all surprised that he had known there was something amiss. Bending down so that his soft, chin-length hair tickled Tsuna's cheek, he whispered five words to the brunette that made the boy freeze.
Takeshi, not knowing what was going on, became instantly alarmed when he saw tears streaming down his best friend's face. "Tsuna?" he asked worriedly.
But his words didn't register in the young mafia Don's mind, because his right-hand man's words were still ringing in his ears.
You're getting your sight back.
On the day of the operation, after the procedure was completed, and Tsuna regained consciousness, the eighteen-year-old lay in his bed with closed eyes, feeling suddenly scared. What if the operation had failed? What if he still couldn't see?
And yet, as the overhead light danced on his eyelids, he knew the operation had been successful.
Gathering up his courage, the teen gingerly blinked open his eyes, and was nearly blinded by the sudden light. Suddenly jerking up, he put his hands to his face, shielding himself from the brightness.
"Tsuna?" asked a familiar, worried voice.
Turning his head towards the speaker, he was completely mesmerised for a moment. His eyes were suddenly assaulted with many foreign shapes and colours, things that he only vaguely remembered from over a decade ago.
By his bed stood two men with worried, albeit expectant, expressions on their faces.
When he saw them, tears appeared in Tsuna eyes, blurring his newfound vision, and he quickly wiped at them.
"Tsuna! Are you okay?" asked the familiar voice again, worried this time. It was Takeshi's voice, coming out of the mouth of the man standing to Tsuna's left. He had wide, cheerful eyes, and a face that looked as if its owner laughed a lot. His trusted shigure kintoki was strapped to his back in its shinai form and he was wearing an expensive-looking black suit with a blue dress shirt and a black tie.
Reaching towards him, Tsuna cupped his face, running a thumb along a thin scar on the man's chin that he hadn't known was there.
This small action made Takeshi freeze in his spot; the sudden, intense excitement bubbling up inside him had temporarily paralyzed him.
"Your eyes remind me of chocolate," said Tsuna quietly, his eyes locked on his friend's.
Takeshi gave a watery laugh, saying, "Yours look tastier."
This caused the brunette to smile lopsidedly before he turned to the teen on his right. This guy looked familiar; his expression was still the same as when they had been kids, and the stubborn set of his jaw hadn't changed at all. His hair was bound into a ponytail for once, and he was wearing a suit like Takeshi's, except that his dress shirt was storm flame red. There were rings on almost all his fingers, and he had multiple earrings on; three in his left ear and four in his right.
Locking onto the older male's sea green eyes, Tsuna grinned even wider. "Your hair is just as colourless as I remember it."
Upon hearing his words, Hayato was so overcome with emotion that he completely forgot his admiration for the brunette. Throwing his arms around Tsuna, he embraced the brunette as a relieved friend instead of as a subordinate.
When he pulled away, Hayato's eyes were full of tears. "I'm so happy for you, Tsuna," he whispered, using his friend's name for the first time since the two of them could remember.
Tsuna smiled at the silverette, but before he could say anything, his attention was drawn to a man, a year or two older than them, standing quietly in the doorway. Although his steel gray eyes and messy black hair were not at all familiar, his emotionless face gave Tsuna a good idea of who he must be.
When everyone's attention was on him, the man walked forward, his black suit whispering quietly as he walked and his lavender dress shirt crinkling slightly.
"You're…Kyoya?" asked Tsuna, a little uncertain.
"Hn," replied his cloud guardian. Reaching his bed, he bent down to whisper in his ear, "Congratulations on the successful operation, omnivore."
As he pulled away, Tsuna couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Kyoya. You have no idea how much that means to me."
"Hn," he said again, walked away.
Just before he walked out the door, though, Tsuna once again claimed his attention. "Why don't you have dinner with us at the Vongola HQ, Kyoya? You did fly here all the way from France, right?"
"I'll think about it," replied the aloof male, before pushing past two certain pineapple heads who had suddenly appeared at the doorway.
The two illusionists ignored him in favour of greeting their boss, who was now staring at them oddly.
"Kufufu, I see you are finally awake, Tsunayoshi dear. Judging from the atmosphere permeating this room, it is safe to assume the operation was a success?"
Tsuna frowned for a second before laughing and saying in a teasing voice, "Now I know what people mean when they say your smirk is creepy, Mukuro. Are you sure you don't belong in some horror movie?"
When he heard the younger male's remark, Mukuro laughed wholeheartedly. "I knew there was a reason I followed you," he said in an amused voice.
It was then that the young lady with Mukuro decided to join in the conversation.
"C-congratulations on the successful operation, Boss," she said, and Tsuna finally got a good look at his only female guardian. She had a petite face, and although her hairstyle was similar to Mukuro's (pineapple shaped), the colour was purple instead of blue. Her visible eye was the same shade as her hair and reminded him of purple fleur de lis.
He pondered her appearance for a moment before saying, "Chrome is quite pretty; no wonder Mukuro likes you so much."
Upon hearing this, the girl in question turned her face away, trying to hide the blush that had crept onto her face.
Mukuro's eyebrow twitched a little when he heard what his boss said. "Oya oya, you wouldn't perhaps be trying to flirt with my sweet Chrome, now would you, my little Tsunayoshi?"
"Of course not!" replied Tsuna with a nervous smile.
Grinning widely, the illusionist cupped his cheek, saying, "Good, because if Tsunayoshi were to leave me, I would be too lonely."
Backing away a little, Tsuna felt a sweatdrop form on his forehead. "Umm, Mukuro, I think you're saying that to the wrong person."
Mukuro smiled devilishly at this, and looked as if he would say more when the last two guardians finally made their appearance.
"Bwahaha, the Great Lambo has finally appeared!" shouted the cow child, jumping onto Tsuna's hospital bed and bringing his face close to the patient's. "Is it true that stupid Tsuna can see now? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Lambo," he began, being overly patient. "I can't see your fingers."
The young lightning guardian looked disheartened for a moment before standing up and pulling a rifle out of his hair and looking determined. "The doctor said he would fix stupid Tsuna's eye sight, but he still can't see! A man who breaks his word doesn't deserve to live to see another day," he said determinedly before turning to march out of the room and look for his prey.
Before he could leave, Hayato grabbed his tail and pulled him back, sitting him down on the bed.
"You idiot cow! The reason he can't see your fingers is because of the stupid suit! It covers your hands too, in case you'd forgotten!"
Lambo looked down at his fingers for a second, then back at Tsuna. "Is what squid-head says true?"
Tsuna nodded silently, trying not to burst out laughing.
While Hayato got back at the child for the stupid nickname, Ryohei, who had been quiet until now suddenly spoke up.
"I'm EXTREMELY happy for you, Sawada! Will you EXTREMELY spar with me when we get back to the mansion?"
Looking back at his sun guardian, Tsuna saw what seemed to be a fresh bandage on his nose and thought that he wouldn't be surprised if the boxer wore one often; it fit the appearance of his face, almost as if it belonged there.
"Sorry, big brother. Sparring with you always leaves me sore for weeks."
"EXTREME!" shouted the boxer. "If you EXTREMELY want to be a boxer, pain is something you EXTREMELY have to deal with!"
"But I don't want to be a boxer, big brother," said Tsuna, sweatdropping.
This seemed to silence the man as he wondered what to say.
Smiling fondly to himself, Tsuna's looked from his sun guardian to his mist guardians, and then to his rain, who was trying to stop Hayato from killing Lambo.
For a long time now, it had been his dream to see his guardians' faces, and to actually witness these haphazard scenes which happened every time they all got together (it was worse when Kyoya was there too). Now that he was finally living his dream, it more than lived up to his expectations.
More than regaining the ability to see, it was the simple experience of seeing his guardians' faces that really made him happy.
SkyGem: The end. So? Was it good? I hope they weren't too OOC. Please r&r and tell me what you thought, ne? And if I get enough requests, I might turn this into a multi-chapter one day…if I have the time. Anyways, over the course of this month, I'll continue to upload one-shots from time to time but you have to wait until December for the next chapters of my ongoing fics. Arigatou gozaimasu!