This was inspired by a fanfic of TunaForDesert named And Then. However, this won't be a Romance story. This will focus more on their friendship, rather than Rakuzan, the Vongola Guardians, and the Generation of Miracles.

R & R.

Enjoy~!

Akashi Seijuro was bored.

None of the freshmen nor the upperclassmen decided to talk to him. Not only that, the fangirls behind him were noisy; their giggles were hurting his ears. Typical behavior of them.

It only had been a few months since he graduated from Teiko, and he had already successfully taken over Rakuzan's Basketball team. Three of the Generals had attented the same school as him, and they didn't mind him being the captain— along with their coach and the seniors. They didn't have any problems with a freshie leading them, either.

Sure, he loved authority and he certainly loved obedience from his pawns, but it was getting rather old. People were quick to bow down to him. He wanted a challenge, somehow like the Generation of Miracles. He wanted someone not to submit easily and he wanted to work to gain a person's loyalty.

Oh, there was no one to mess with, too.

Right now, he's sitting alone in the middle of the school courtyard with his Chess board. The red-haired PG stared at the chattering people in the distance. It was truly and utterly boring.

"Hey, umm… you're alone, right? Mind playing with me?"

Akashi stared at the boy that dared to approach him. The boy didn't look like a high school student, but he was wearing the school uniform. The redhead's Emperor eyes could estimate that he was around 5'4"— an ideal height for a freshman or sophomore middle-schooler. The boy had wild, fluffy brown hair (even wilder than Tetsuya's impossible bed hair) and he had doe hazel-brown eyes (something that a high school student, let alone a boy, shouldn't have).

The brunet had a sheepish smile on his face as he stood in front of the redhead. For a moment, Akashi swore he saw something orange flicker in the smaller teen's eyes. It seemed that the boy had a hidden strength or power.

"What makes you think I want to play with you?"

"Because you're bored, and maybe a bit lonely."

"Oh?" That certainly caught his attention. The teen made sure that his pokerface was perfect, and the other simply saw through it effortlessly. Interesting. "How can you tell?"

"I have a good intuition."

The red-haired teen replied. "Akashi Seijuro, Class 1-A."

The brunet took that as an invitation. He sat across of him and immediately arranged the black pieces. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, Class 1-C."

Since that day, the pair had been meeting each other. They had become board game buddies— playing Chess to Shogi, even Monopoly at times. The pair found mutual understanding with each other. Akashi never expected that the brunet was one ruthless players.

He admits it— he's not sure who's better at board games. Sometimes, he won. At times, he lost. And most of the time, they were at stalemate.

If he was against a different person, Akashi would never let himself lose. He was an Emperor, after all. However, the brunet (he concluded) was a fellow King. Therefore, all results were understandable.

Sawada Tsunayoshi is one formidable foe, just like today of all times.

It was the annual Student Council elections. Naturally, Akashi nominated himself as the president. However, the previous one, some woman named Tsumiya Asuko, nominated one Sawada Tsunayoshi to take her place. Apparently, they were schoolmates, with Asuko as the upperclassman.

Akashi admitted that he didn't have the perfect reputation (since people's respect for him was just a fancy term for fear), but he was clearly taken aback by the intriguing brunet's middle school standing.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was known as Dame-Tsuna, or No-Good Tsuna, at least until second year of middle school. He had abyssmal grades, clumsy nature (that he can see until now, the brown-haired teen often tripped over his own feet), and poor athletic skills. Sometime in third year, this all changed.

The pathetic Tsunayoshi seemed to have taken his studies seriously and had trained himself to be better in PE class. He became more sociable and charismatic. Since then, his reputation of Dame-Tsuna turned into Clumsy-Tsuna (which was good, because he managed to surpass his no-goodness). The brunet graduated with fairly good grades and a fair amount of respect not only from his lowerclassmen, but also from the faculty members.

And this reputation of his had carried over to Rakuzan.

He would be one formidable foe. From the corner of his eye, Akashi saw a group of fangirls swooning over his rival's sheepish smile. There would be some tough competition during the elections.

The brunet walked towards him. "May the best man win, Akashi-kun."

"Give me a good challenge, Tsunayoshi."

In the end, the pair was a tie. They received the same amount of votes. The brown-haired teen wanted to concede to the vice president position and let the redhead win, but of course, the heterochromatic-eyed male wouldn't grasp victory that is out of consolation.

And here they were now, playing Chess. Whoever wins would be the president.

"Ne, Akashi-kun. What school did you go to before Rakuzan?" The black Rook ate the white Bishop. Tsuna was cupping his chin in thought for his next move.

"I attended Teiko Middle School. How about you, Tsunayoshi? I heard you and Tsumiya-senpai were from the same school." The white Knight ate the black Rook. The redhead had a satisfied smile on his face.

"That's right. Asuko-san and I both attended Namimori Middle School. She was already in the graduating batch when I first entered." A black Pawn took the white Knight's place. Akashi's eyes narrowed at the move.

"I see." A white Pawn ate the black Pawn. "And it seems that we are down to a few pieces."

It was true. On Akashi's side, only the King, Queen, his last Knight, and three Pawns remained. On Tsuna's side, he had the King, a Bishop, and a couple of Pawns.

"Don't worry, Akashi-kun. I won't go down without a fight." He moved his King to a random tile. The redhead's eyes widened. "Oh, and Checkmate."

The people watching, who were the other members of the Student Council, gaped at the outcome. Sawada Tsunayoshi, a seemingly-harmless person, had ruthlessly beated Akashi Seijuro in a game of Chess— with a King. It was a downright declaration of challenge; a King versus another King.

Well, at least they know their president is a capable person who wouldn't let Akashi have his way every single time.

Sometime after, Akashi learned that Tsunayoshi was the heir of Vongola Corporation, the biggest and most influential company in Italy; the counterpart of Akashi Enterprises, which was the 'Vongola' of Japan.

The brunet had asked for an alliance, settling the terms via another Chess game. He won, and Akashi had no choice but to concede. The pair had been settling a lot of their differences through a match of wits just to be fair.

This time, they were playing because Tsunayoshi—stubborn brunet that he was—refused to call him by his first name, saying something about respect, rudeness, and such. The Emperor wouldn't have that. Since the brown-haired male had won against him (in board games), proving his abilities, then wasn't it right for them to be on first name basis? They were fellow leaders, after all.

Not only that, Tsunayoshi also refused to lend them the extra clubroom for the Basketball club because the Literature club requested for it first, though the permit was yet to be approved.

"Tsunayoshi, my name isn't hard to pronounce," The red-haired teen said, moving his white Rook near the brunet's black King. In turn, Tsuna moved his Queen to block a pathway. "It's just three syllables. And better give us that room now."

"Why is that?"

Akashi moved his other Rook towards the brunet's King. "Because it's my win."

The brunet blinked, forgetting about the identical piece.

Mibuchi, Nebuya, and Hayama (who were watching on the sidelines) facepalmed at their captain's smug smirk.

"It's okay for Rakuzan to lose, Aka— Seijuro-san." Tsuna approached the team.

Winter Cup was just finished with a score of 106-105, in favor of Seirin. The red blaring lights of the scoreboard appeared mocking to the red-haired captain. Meanwhile, Seirin and the other spectators (other Basketball teams) peered curiously at the short brunet. Why was a middle-schooler talking to the feared PG?

"Winning is everything, Tsunayoshi. We can't afford to lose. I can't afford to—"

"This isn't Teiko," His sharp voice cut him off. Heterochromatic eyes clashed with burning Orange ones. Since when did Tsunayoshi's eyes became that color? "You're Akashi Seijuro of Rakuzan now. Get it drilled to your head!" The brunet emphasized his point by drilling his fist onto Akashi's unruly red locks hardly. People gaped at his action.

"Akashi-kun…"

"Kuroko, that brown-haired kid's a goner!"

"Hiiiii! Akashicchi!"

"O-Oi, he's gonna die!"

"Ah, what is that child's Zodiac sign? He must be very unlucky today."

"Aka-chin got scolded~!"

Seirin gawked at the sight, while Rakuzan acted as if this was an everyday occurrence. Mibuchi walked to their captain and their president. He was sweating profusely, in fear of their dark aura being turned to him; especially when their egotistical psychopath for a Point Guard was being scolded in public.

"I-Iinchou, I think that's enough."

"Hah. Someone as stubborn as him needs a good, hard pounding on a head, Mibuchi-kun." He smiled angelically, as if he wasn't emitting a dark aura before. "Besides, I'm your Iinchou. What kind of president am I if I can't set other students straight?" Tsuna did a headlock on Akashi and gave him a noogie.

His smile gave shivers to those who saw it (sans Akashi) "Get it, Taichou? Don't be a stubborn ass about it." He released him and ruffled his hair (which was hard since the redhead was a lot taller than him). "You win as a team, you lose as a team, and you play as a team. What matters most is friendship and teamwork."

The brunet turned towards the other members of the Rakuzan team, scary smile still in place. "Better get that into your heads, too!"

"Y-Yes, Iinchou!"

His blazing orange eyes turned brown and he hurriedly fled the scene. That was so embarrassing, letting his anger out!

Hyuuga remained jawslacked. "Did they call that kid… Iinchou?"

Hayama, who overheard Seirin's captain, laughed and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, that's our Student Council President, alright. Small thing, isn't he? And scary, too." Those who heard his explanation had their eyes glued to the short male.

Akashi's eyes remained on the brunet's retreating back. A tiny smile was on his face before he turned towards Kuroko, who was watching them passively. "Tetsuya, we will win next year."

"I look forward to it, Akashi-kun."

The red-haired teen followed their president, leaving his teammates behind.

And that's how Tsuna made his debut in the Basketball world. Sometime in second year, Akashi wanted him as their manager and won his application through a game of Chess. The brunet sighed as the redhead dragged him towards the gym.

"Your mind isn't the only reason why I asked you to join."

Tsuna's intuition had always been uncannily accurate, add that to his intellect and you have one good profiler and strategist.

"And what is the other?"

Akashi tossed a package to him. The brunet opened it and his eyes widened as he brought out the contents. It was a jersey for the Rakuzan team, number 10.

"You have potential." He was smirking and Tsuna sweatdropped. It looks like there was no other way around this.

"I don't have a choice, do I." It was a statement.

"Not one bit."

A couple of years after the Winter Cup incident, one would find a red-haired male and a short brown-haired teen walking up the podium of Rakuzan's auditorium. Both were wearing their toga and they took their respective seats on stage. They were to give their speech.

Akashi Seijuro was the valedictorian.

Sawada Tsunayoshi remained the SC President during his entire high school life.

"—and I thank everyone for giving me their support as their Iinchou for the past few years." Tsuna bowed in front and everyone clapped.

After receiving their diploma, the pair took one last group photo with the entire Basketball team. They all had smiles on their faces and their coach, Shirogane Eiji, had brought their trophy from last year's tournament.

Seirin only won during their first year. In their second and third year, Rakuzan had taken back its throne with help from one Sawada Tsunayoshi. His intuition, along with being a pro at feints and speed drives, were unparalleled. Plus Akashi's calculating mind and Emperor Eyes? They were a combination to be feared on the court.

It was fun, more so than the red-haired male had expected.

Graduating from high school, Tsuna moved back to Italy to receive top-notch education while Akashi stayed behind, opting to attend Tokyo University instead. They keep in touch with each other, just like how he kept in touch with the other Generation of Miracles. The pair still met up during summer, Christmas, or whenever they were both free.

This time, they were meeting each other's friends. Akashi previously met the 'Guardians', as Vongola had dubbed their upper echelon, during a conference between Vongola and the Akashi Enterprises. The redhead couldn't wait for his former Teiko teammates and Tsunayoshi's Guardians to clash. Their encounter would be chaotic. It would be very intriguing.

"Have I kept you waiting long, Seijuro-san?"

"Not at all, Tsunayoshi." He paused. "Where are your… Guardians?"

"Oh, they're just behind—"

BOOM!

There was an explosion.

"Stupid cow, stop pestering the Tenth!"

"Maa, maa. Calm down, Hayato!"

"THAT WAS AN EXTREME ENTRANCE, OCTOPUS-HEAD!"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN OCTOPUS, LAWN-HEAD!"

"Kufufufu, the loudmouths are at it again."

"Mukuro-sama?"

"For interrupting the peace, I'll bite you all to death."

Tsuna facepalmed. Akashi smirked.

Life would indeed be boring without meeting one Sawada Tsunayoshi.

And it was all thanks to that one game of Chess.

I'm out. Thanks for reading this!

Ciao ciao~! -Flonne.