Superhero Tsuna (Pt.1)

[cywscross]

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi was born with power to spare but zero ambition to rule.

That, Reborn reflects more than once over the years, is probably something to be very thankful for, even if it can be outrageously frustrating to the point of screaming at times.

 

At the age of three, one of Tsuna’s toys rolls under his closet, and he can barely wriggle an arm under it much less crawl in after it. Mama is downstairs cooking, and Tsuna is hungry so he doesn’t want to bother her. So he does the most logical thing instead - he lifts the closet into the air with one hand, scoops up his toy, and puts the closet back down again before running off with his car, happily swooping it through the air because - naturally - it’s a flying car.

No one is any the wiser about this feat of superhuman strength, and they won’t be for a long while to come.

~0~0~0~

Tsuna is five when a black car screeches to a stop beside him on his way home from his eighth day of kindergarten. Two huge men in suits and twin glares jump out, and one of them stoops down to snatch Tsuna up.

Or he tries to. Tsuna skips back in time so that the man’s hands close around air.

What follows is a chase that isn’t much of a chase at all. Tsuna runs, and he’s down the street and around the corner in the time it takes for both men to take six running steps. Then he hears them get back into the car, and the car comes vrooming after him at high speed, but Tsuna outruns that too, sprinting all the way home.

He has time to put down his backpack, say hi to Mama, and pour himself a glass of water before the men catch up. They don’t stop, but Tsuna watches their car inch past his house before driving away.

The next day, the men are back. This time, they have guns, and Tsuna gets the feeling that they’re not like the toy pistols that he’s seen other kids play with. These men want to catch him and take him somewhere.

Tsuna doesn’t like that at all, so this time, he doesn’t run. Instead, because he’s so short, he jumps up onto the hood of the car to get some height, and even then, it’s not much because the force of his next jump crushes the car under his feet, but it’s enough, and he doesn’t hesitate to punch the first bad man in the nose. It’s a bit clumsy, he thinks. Not at all like the way his favourite superhero in his Saturday cartoon does it, but the bad man goes down with a howl of pain, blood spurting everywhere, and then the other bad man is there but Tsuna is already falling again so he kicks the man instead. His foot nails the bad man in his private part, which Tsuna didn’t mean to do, but it does the trick. The bad man folds like wet tissue, tears streaming from behind his sunglasses and a scream that sounds like a very long squeak coming from his mouth.

Tsuna lands, and the car flattens all the way to the ground under his feet. He looks at the bad men for a while longer before picking up his backpack and heading home.

He doesn’t see the men again. Well, not those men anyway. Other bad men come though. Tsuna stops them all.

~0~0~0~ 

Tsuna is almost six when an old man with a kind smile but a look in his eyes that Tsuna doesn’t like visits their home with another man that Mama says is Tsuna’s Papa. Tsuna doesn’t like him either because both men watch him too closely, too intently, like they’re waiting for something to happen. Tsuna doesn’t know what, but then the neighbour’s dog scares him, and Tsuna wants it to go away, and suddenly everything’s orange and warm and so, so clear, but Tsuna knows this feeling because it’s been inside of him for as long as he can remember. Well, he can’t remember anything being orange, but the warmth has always been there, always made him feel safe, and it makes sense that it’s come out now to chase the dog away.

But then the old man is there with a fingertip on fire, and before Tsuna can back away because that’s dangerous even though nobody seems to think so because the old man is smiling and the Papa man is smiling even wider, he touches Tsuna’s forehead, and everything goes dark.

When he wakes up, the old man and the Papa man are gone, and the world is… different. It’s as if Mama muted the TV and turned off all the lights at night and opened all the windows in the middle of winter. There’s something inside him, dark and cold and ugly, and Tsuna can’t feel the warmth anymore. Maybe that’s why he feels so empty.

He doesn’t like it. So he gets rid of it. He mentally bats that darkcoldugly thing inside him away, and it’s like watching glass shatter on the floor and orange fireworks going off at the same time, and then the warmth is back, stronger than ever, brighter than ever, and as welcoming and safe as it’s always been.

Tsuna smiles and goes back to sleep.

~0~0~0~

Tsuna is seven when he meets Hibari Kyouya.

He’s used to being alone these days, even a his age. He’s not very… motivated, you see. He’s average in class even though he knows English comes more easily to him than it does to other students, average in sports even though he knows no one can beat him in a footrace, average in just about everything, mostly because he doesn’t really try. Other kids call him boring but Tsuna doesn’t mind. He’s more interested in reading his manga and learning how to knit because the stuffed animals he produces for his mama always make her smile, or at least make her forget to be unhappy over the Papa man’s absence for a little while.

So of course, Tsuna has his own fair share of bullies. Because he knits, because he keeps to himself, because he’s small. For one reason or another, bigger kids tend to circle him like sharks, mostly taunting him but sometimes cornering him to push him around a bit or steal his lunch too.

Tsuna is mostly just annoyed by this because he doesn’t like wasting time putting a stop to it. He does though, because his lunches are always the best, and nobody ruins his mama’s hard work without paying for it. The first and only time his lunch is knocked to the ground, spilling over concrete because Tsuna wasn’t expecting it, Tsuna picks up the laughing bully by his still outstretched arm and throws him into the other two, sending them tumbling to the ground as well in a heap of limbs and pained yelps.

They’re dazed by the time they manage to untangle themselves, and in varying stages of disbelief, but of course, they can’t just let it go so they jump to their feet again, and the head bully lunges forward with a red face and tries to grab Tsuna by the front of his shirt.

Tsuna catches his wrist and doesn’t let go, even as the bully tries - more and more desperately - to yank his arm back. Then he shoves, and the bully falls over once again with a hard thud.

Tsuna stares down at him, and all three run away crying.

But the bullying attempts don’t stop. Nobody is going to admit that someone as delicate-looking as Tsuna managed to overpower them, and some even come back like they think the first (second, third, fourth) time was some sort of fluke.

On his part, Tsuna learned a few years back that it’s absolutely not normal for him to be as strong or fast as he is. He doesn’t know why he’s the way he is but he’s also up-to-date with his comics so he guesses that he was just born with it, like a mutant, or a superhero, or a mutant superhero, and just like them, he hides his superpower whenever he doesn’t need to use it.

It helps that all his bullies are so good at keeping it a secret for him. Not that they know it’s a superpower of course. They just think it’s a trick.

It’s not always bullies that Tsuna uses his strength against of course. Most of the time, he just avoids them or outruns them, problem solved. But then he’d stumble on a duckling that fell into the gutter, with its mother and siblings quacking frantically beside it, so Tsuna would heft the grate aside, drop in until he’s hanging from the fingertips of one hand, and use his other to scoop up the duckling. Then he’d pull himself back up and give the duckling back to its mother.

She doesn’t peck him. She even quacks at him in a way that sounds distinctly grateful.

Another time, he’s walking home, and he passes a row of apartments, one of which has its window open, and its occupants are yelling very loudly at each other. A clunky suitcase comes flying out and would’ve brained Tsuna over the head if he wasn’t fast enough to catch it. To him, it weighs about as much as a feather. Maybe one and a half feathers. But the inside is overflowing with clothes and books and even a laptop tucked into the netting so he quickly puts it down before anyone sees. Then he scoots off and leaves the quarreling behind him.

At home, it’s a bit of a problem too. Early on, he yanks the bathroom door right off its hinges. Luckily, all his mama says is that her Tsu-kun will grow up to be as strong as his papa. She doesn’t seem to notice anything odd so Tsuna shrugs and moves on and tries to be more careful.

His strength can be useful too though. When Mama vacuums, Tsuna lifts up pieces of furniture for her, like the couch or the fridge or the washing machine. But this also results in Tsuna finding little compartments built into the floor or a wall, blending in so well that Mama doesn’t realize anything is there, but the warmth inside Tsuna gives him a little nudge, and he opens them to find a whole bunch of guns and knives and little ball things that turn out to be grenades.

The first time he tries shooting one of the guns in the backyard when his mama is out shopping, he squeezes too tightly and the metal crunches in his hands.

Ah well. He has dozens more to try with, and it’s probably the Papa man’s fault for leaving them there. Finders keepers after all.

And then he’s seven, and he’s lifting a car in the air because there’s an injured stray cat hissing defensively underneath it, and Tsuna doesn’t want to drag the poor thing out, but it can’t stay there either. Licking at that broken leg isn’t going to heal it.

He sets the car aside, shucks his sweater, and - with painstaking care - shifts the cat onto it. He tries very hard not to jostle it at all as he moves the whole bundle onto the sidewalk before putting the car back. Then he picks up the cat again, crooning at it with the warmth inside him coating his voice, and he’s glad that it seems to make the cat settle down. Now he just has to take it home and nurse it back to health. It shouldn’t be too hard - he has the internet and the warmth inside him to guide him.

But then he looks up, and there’s a boy about his age standing several feet away, with black hair and a pair of… sticks? Metal sticks? Tsuna isn’t sure what they are but they look pretty dangerous. In fact, the boy looks pretty dangerous too.

And he saw. And he certainly isn’t like Tsuna’s mama, who thinks all the superhuman things Tsuna can do is just part of him growing up to be a big strong man, or even like Tsuna’s bullies who all refuse to believe that Tsuna is actually stronger than all of them combined.

But this boy doesn’t do anything. He just stands there and stares unblinkingly at Tsuna, and even when Tsuna - fidgeting a little - turns to walk away with the cat in his arms, he doesn’t move. He’s still staring when Tsuna looks back once before he turns a corner.

Very strange. But Tsuna is strange too, so, okay.

Back home, he gently wipes away the blood staining the cat’s fur, and then the warmth inside him surges, and before Tsuna knows it, everything is orange again, except this time it’s tinged with yellow, and when it all fades and Tsuna actually feels a bit woozy, the cat’s leg is completely healed. Even the cat looks bewildered.

But then it stays. Mama coos at it when she meets it. It’s a she apparently, and she needs a name. Tsuna names her Tsuki because she’s as black as the moon is white and it amuses him.

Tsuki doesn’t care. She walks Tsuna to school, and she’s waiting for him at the gates when he gets off, and they walk home together. Once people realize the cat is his, some of Tsuna’s meaner bullies hurl rocks at it.

Tsuna is worried and angry the first time he sees this, and he’s about to rush in to protect his cat, but Tsuki dodges all the rocks and rushes forward to rip part of one of the bullies’ face off. Her fangs are bared, her fur is puffed out and bristling, making her look twice as big, and the bully she attacked is going to have scars.

Tsuna buys extra fish for her that night. Tsuki preens, and Tsuna thinks he catches a flicker of orange in her bright yellow eyes.

And then, a month later, when Tsuna has just about forgotten, the black-haired boy from that day shows up again. He leaps out at Tsuna the moment Tsuna appears on the school roof for lunch as usual, and his metal sticks come flying at Tsuna’s head.

Tsuna catches one and pulls it hard to the side to block the other, and then he blinks in confusion at the other boy. Up close, he’s taller than Tsuna, and he looks a year or two older. He tugs at one of his sticks but it doesn’t budge an inch in Tsuna’s grip, and after a moment of watching the sheer ridiculousness of it, Tsuna lets go. The boy staggers back, catching himself at the last second.

And then they’re staring at each other again. Except this time, before Tsuna can walk off, the boy grins, wide and bloodthirsty, and he declares, “You’re a true carnivore.”

And then he attacks again. So weird.

Tsuna spends three-quarters of lunch tossing the other boy around like a ragdoll, mostly because he just won’t let up. He keeps launching himself at Tsuna from different sides, even from above a few times, but Tsuna just catches him - by an arm, by a leg, by a shoulder, often by one of his metal sticks - and then pitches him away again like a bowling ball across the roof.

At least his other hand is free. He needs to eat lunch sometime.

“Are you done?” Tsuna huffs, mostly just exasperated and a little concerned instead of annoyed or irritated. This boy isn’t a bully. He just… really wants to fight Tsuna.

The boy lies flat on his back, gasping for breath and trying very hard to look like he isn’t.

The bell rings. Tsuna gets up. The boy scowls and sits up.

“What’s your name, carnivore?” He demands.

Tsuna squints at him. “Sawada Tsunayoshi. But I like Tsuna better.”

I like Tsuna better. He’s always wanted to say that but this is the first time since class introductions back in kindergarten that someone’s asked for his name.

“What’s your name?” Tsuna asks, kind of curious himself.

The boy’s eyes narrow, and then he gets up, retrieving his metal sticks but - thankfully - not attacking. “Hibari Kyouya.” He scowls. “I’m a carnivore too. But now you’re the biggest carnivore in Namimori.”

Tsuna scratches his head. He completely doesn’t get it. He sighs and shrugs. “If you say so.”

The boy’s - Hibari’s - scowl deepens like he thinks Tsuna’s making fun of him. Which he isn’t. He’s just really confused.

“I want another fight tomorrow,” Hibari declares before stalking away, disappearing through the roof door. Apparently, the conversation’s over.

Tsuna has no idea what just happened. But he has no more time to think on it because the second bell rings.

“Hiieee!!” Tsuna screeches, racing towards the door. He has a quiz after lunch, and while he doesn’t care much about his grades, he doesn’t want to miss the thing entirely.

~0~0~0~ 

Hibari comes back, again and again and again, day after day after day, those metal sticks of his - tonfa apparently - always in hand, and he never stops until Tsuna’s flung him around a dozen times or so, but then they sit down and eat or nap or do homework.

Until one day, mostly because Tsuna asks him (while the older boy is down and wheezing from lack of oxygen), “Can’t we be friends without fighting all the time?”

Hibari stares at him like Tsuna’s started speaking gibberish. But the next day at the library, well, he still greets Tsuna with a tonfa to the head, but it’s even slower to Tsuna’s eyes than usual, and then he sits down in the chair beside Tsuna and pulls out his latest homework.

That’s how they become friends.

That’s also how Tsuna - unwittingly - gains his first pack member.

(Later, Kyouya will explain to him in really tiny words that because Tsuna is - easily - the strongest, that means he’s the Alpha carnivore. Because Kyouya is second, he’s Tsuna’s enforcer. Everyone else are herbivores but also pack because Tsuna likes herding so they come under Tsuna and Kyouya’s combined protection. Does Tsuna get it now?

Tsuna just sighs and goes along with it.)

~0~0~0~ 

Tsuna is thirteen when the real madness begins.

Reborn arrives in Namimori, expecting a no-good student much like Dino who - if Iemitsu’s letters from Nana about his tuna-fishie are to be believed - is doted on by his mother, and often praised for his manly strength and similarities to his father.

Reborn keeps a straight face but laughs himself sick on the inside because no way can anyone be as much of an idiot as Iemitsu. Then the actual nausea sets in because if this kid is - by chance - anything like Iemitsu, Reborn will probably shoot himself.

He’s right about one thing - Tsuna is nothing like Iemitsu. But he’s nothing like what Reborn expects either.

From his observations afar, Tsuna is the quintessential middle school teenage boy. He has one friend - Hibari Kyouya - the most feared teenager in the entire town, which already veers away from the profile he was given by Iemitsu and the Nono. But Tsuna’s grades aren’t great, are barely good most of the time, so Reborn decides not to fly back to Italy right away to shoot someone for the mistaken information.

And then he enters the Sawada household and introduces himself, ready to talk his way into the occupants’ lives. Sawada Nana is more or less the way Reborn pictured, cheerful and oblivious and the perfect housewife.

Sawada Tsunayoshi on the other hand crouches down and looks at Reborn, and Reborn stares back into guileless doe-brown eyes, only to feel an icy chill run up his spine, and for a split second, he’s completely immobilized.

In that moment, he is not the biggest predator in the room, in the town, in the country, in the world. He stares at Tsuna, and he is reminded of the very first time he was on the wrong end of a gun, completely helpless and knowing with absolute certainty that he was going to die.

Then the moment passes, and Reborn has no idea what just happened. It’s just a boy with average marks and a baby face, arguing with his mother about not needing a tutor. A boy Reborn will groom into the next Vongola boss.

They go up to Tsuna’s room, and Reborn explains his role as Tsuna’s tutor, and then explains Tsuna’s role as the future Vongola Decimo.

And Tsuna - of course - says no. He asks if Reborn will leave now.

Reborn smirks and curls his fingers around his Leon-gun. It’s just a rubber bullet, and not even particularly hard rubber. He aims it at Tsuna’s shoulder and fires, all within a few fluid seconds.

There’s a moment of silence after the shot. Tsuna’s staring at him. Reborn’s staring at Tsuna’s hand, the one that caught the rubber bullet.

“What are you doing?” Tsuna asks, brow furrowing like he honestly doesn’t understand. “Are all you mafia people this violent when you don’t get your way? Even Kyouya’s not so unreason-”

Reborn fires again, point-blank this time, straight at Tsuna’s head and without a beat of warning.

The rubber bullet is caught again. By the same hand.

“-able,” Tsuna finishes, blinking down at the bullets with a vague sort of curiosity. “These are lighter than actual bullets.”

Actual bullets?

Tsuna looks up, and Reborn goes still because those eyes are no longer doe-brown. They’re orange and bright and endless, and they stay that way as Tsuna declares once more with quiet, casual, absolute conviction, “Anyway, I’m not gonna be a mafia boss or Vongola Decimo or whatever. I want to be a superhero and a manga artist, so. That’s what I’m gonna be. Sorry.”

He isn’t sorry though, and looking at him, looking at this boy who is supposed to be his student, this boy whom Iemitsu put right in the Nono’s path eight years ago, this boy who’s supposed to have had his Flames sealed because he has Sky Flames that make the Nono’s expression pinch with something like calculation and something like resentment, this boy who is supposed to be Vongola’s puppet-

And all Reborn can think right then is - there goes every last one of Nono’s plans. He never stood a chance. This boy will not bow. And no one will ever be able to make him.

 

 

Comments

[kiriel123]

Yessss what a GREAT start, I love super!strong!Tsuna who doesn't have any ambitions other than to help people and have fun.

He and Kyouya are ADORABLE, we all know you consider him your best friend not just your pack mate Kyouya don't lie.

I'm so glad Tsuna shucked off the seal, whenever I read fic where Nono seals him it makes me so angry, like why are you hurting this small child, look at your life look at your choices!

Vongola isn't going to know what hit them.

[(Anonymous)]

I love it when Tsuna actually stands firm and fucks up every last one of the plans laid out for him right from the start. Great beginning!