Superhero Tsuna (Pt.2)

[cywscross]

 Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Summary: Reborn still has a job to do. Tsuna makes it impossible.

 

“This is Tsuki,” Tsuna introduces to Reborn. It’s pretty clear the baby hitman isn’t going to be leaving anytime soon so it’s best to get the introductions sorted out first.

“Tsuki,” Reborn repeats flatly, eyeing the black cat dubiously. “Cute.”

Tsuki hisses. She’s draped territorially across Tsuna’s lap, not at all liking the newest addition to the household. She still doesn’t much like Tsuna’s mom for some reason, and it took her a grand total of three years to accept Kyouya. Tsuna suspects it’ll take at least double that time for her to warm up to Reborn, if she ever does at all. And if Reborn sticks around for that long of course. Tsuna isn’t holding his breath.

The hitman adjusts his fedora with one tiny hand, looking from the cat to Tsuna. “You realize this thing is filled with Sun Flames, right?”

Tsuna scowls. Tsuki snarls. “Tsuki’s not a thing. God, you’re rude, aren’t you?”

Reborn doesn’t actually roll his eyes but Tsuna gets the sense that he really really wants to.

“So what if he is?” Tsuna huffs defensively, running fingers through Tsuki’s fur. “When I first met her, her leg was broken, so I healed her with orange light that was sort of yellow too, and he must have kept them.”

“I explained to you about Dying Will Flames so use the proper terms,” Reborn grinds out. “And Flames don’t work like that.”

Tsuna shrugs, largely unconcerned. “Mine do.”

Reborn shoots him. Tsuna bats the bullet aside, and it goes thudding into the nearby wall. Honestly. The guy uses real bullets now too, ever since he realized Tsuna could handle it. And he thought only children have temper tantrums.

Tsuki hisses again, all her fangs exposed, but this time, she also spits a ball of bright yellow light at Reborn. The hitman leaps out of the way in the nick of time, and the ball splats onto the floor, shattering like glass into a million yellow pieces that dissipate into the air like they were never there.

“Tsuki,” Tsuna scolds half-heartedly. Tsuki lifts her nose into the air, tail lashing, before licking her paw haughtily.

“…That is supposed to be normal too?” Reborn demands, and it’s a good thing his voice is already squeaky because Tsuna gets the feeling that it would’ve gone up an octave if his voice was actually that of an adult’s.

“There were kids at school who used to like throwing rocks at her when they found out she was mine,” Tsuna mutters, smoothing a hand over her back. “And she usually just clawed them up a bit-” -a lot- “-but sometimes they were too far away so she spat at them instead.”

“And what exactly happened when it hit them?” Reborn asks in tones as dry as the Sahara.

Tsuna shrugs. “Broke a few bones, mostly. The yellow light can be really hard.”

“That’s the strengthening factor,” Reborn sighs. “And they’re Flames, not light.”

Tsuna shrugs again. Reborn sighs again. “Well, none of that matters right now. I still have a job to do, and that’s to make you a mafia boss, understand?”

Tsuna gets up, Tsuki clambering up onto his shoulders. “Nope. ’Cause I don’t wanna.”

If it was anyone else, Tsuna’s certain there would be steam coming out of Reborn’s ears.

~0~0~0~

“Kyouya, Reborn. Reborn, Hibari Kyouya,” Tsuna introduces the next day at school during lunch.

Kyouya’s already slanted a suspicious look at Reborn. Reborn stares back, blank-faced.

“He’s supposed to make me the boss of a mafia Family that my dad is a part of,” Tsuna explains succinctly, chewing on his sandwich.

Kyouya’s eyes narrow in that particular way that means he’s about two seconds away from biting someone to death.

“Which I’m not going to be,” Tsuna adds helpfully, ignoring the sharp look Reborn shoots him.

Kyouya scoffs. “Of course not.” He pins Reborn with a glare. “Tsunayoshi and I will be going into business together to enforce order in all of Japan one day. Don’t interfere.”

Reborn stares dubiously at both of them. “You want to take over Japan? I didn’t take you for a dictator, Tsuna.”

Tsuna rolls his eyes. “We’re not enforcing a dictatorship, we’re enforcing order. I already told you - I’m gonna be a superhero, and so is Kyouya. We’ll set up a system to tell us whenever there’s major trouble or something, and we’ll go help. We’re already well on our way to establishing our presence in Namimori, and one day, we’ll do that for Japan too.”

He says this like it’s a fact of life, like it’s really going to happen. Reborn can’t help sneering because it’s just not realistic. “What do you think real life is, one of your mangas? If you really want to spend your life being a good person and saving lives and upholding justice, then at least set a goal like becoming a police officer or a fireman. At least that’s within the realm of possibility.”

At this, Tsuna just gives him a look like he thinks Reborn is the stupidest son-of-a-bitch he’s ever met. It makes Reborn’s fingers itch with the desire to shoot him, but he knows Tsuna will just catch the bullet or dodge it, which will just irritate him more, so he doesn’t.

“Heroes aren’t heroes because they’re good people who are all about justice and saving lives, Reborn,” Tsuna tells him like this should be obvious. “Heroes are heroes because when they see something wrong, they won’t just walk away from it. You don’t have to be a good person or believe in justice or save lives for a living to do that. Even if you just want a good fight, or if you have nothing better to do, or if you don’t want to do it but you do it anyway, that’s a hero.”

The duh is so loud it rings off the concrete of the roof. Kyouya says nothing but he looks smug and satisfied. And he looks at Tsuna with a faith Reborn’s never had in anyone.

Reborn tugs on his fedora. In that moment, he can’t… he can’t quite think of anything to say at all.

~0~0~0~

Gokudera Hayato declares, “You’re unfit for the position of Tenth!”

Tsuna says, “I totally agree. Could you help me convince Reborn of that?”

This just baffles Gokudera, and then enrages him when he thinks Tsuna is making fun of him. The resulting fight is… anticlimatic. Tsuna barely has to do anything. He sidesteps a few pieces of dynamite, catches a few more and curiously examines them for a moment because he’s never had anyone throw dynamite at him before, and then extinguishes the lit fuses with a few pinches.

This just makes Gokudera even more angry. He fumbles his next throw as a result and ends up almost blowing himself up. Tsuna sighs but gets his ass in gear and saves the idiot.

After that, it’s all dogezas and desperation and “Please let me be your right-hand man, Jyuudaime!!”

“No,” Tsuna says bluntly, dusting his schoolbag off. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Reborn facepalming in a tree. “I’m not going to be a mafia boss or a Vongola boss or anything like that, I already told you. I’m gonna be a superhero, and Kyouya and I are gonna start a superhero business together, and when that happens, Kyouya already has dibs on being my second-in-command - he called it - which I suppose is sort of like my right-hand man, so the position’s taken. Sorry.”

And then he heads home, leaving a gawking dynamite specialist in his wake.

~0~0~0~

The next day:

“Since Hibari was here first, I don’t mind being third, Boss! I’ll work hard and do my best and I won’t let you down! Please let me join your superhero business!”

And since they’ve already been looking into recruiting, not counting Kyouya’s Disciplinary Committee, Tsuna agrees at once with a bright smile that makes Gokudera flush red as he rises from his ridiculously deep bow. Because anyone who takes Tsuna’s future superhero business seriously, no matter their reasons, will always be welcome.

(Reborn bangs his head against the living room wall, just once. Tsuna is impossible. Maybe he’ll call Dino next. At least then he’ll have someone he can actually shoot at properly.)