Chapter Text
Useless. Dumb. Loner. Freak.
These were the words young Tsuna had heard for the past few years while he’s attended Nami-Mori high school. He’s not sure what he did to earn the harsh treatment that he gets, but he knows that the words are true. In this world you were born as either a summoner, or a familiar, and Tsuna’s not sure if he was born as either. Though there are normal humans that exist, his entire family has been summoners, and both his parents had been very strong summoners (though his mother only has one familiar, and he doesn’t know his father too well at all).
Though he fights off the remarks and bullying with a smile, it lingers in the back of his mind that shines through when he’s alone. In fact, Tsuna himself could have higher grades but he stopped trying when the bullying started, and now he barely passes his classes. Though he understands what the teacher is teaching and could be getting higher grades, he just doesn’t care enough.
All these thoughts swirled around his head as Tsuna droned out his maths teacher. It was stuff he already knew, but he wasn’t going to get a high grade on the work so he didn’t really care. He would have fallen asleep, but he still wanted to tune in a little bit in case his teacher had something important to say.
“...nd don’t forget that on Friday we have our monthly Summoner Fight and that you need at least one familiar to be able to participate in,” the teacher said, completing the lesson for the day. “Of course that’s not an issue for most people, but just remember the rules.”
Tsuna let out an almost incoherent sigh, packing up his books into his bag when the bell rang. He probably wouldn’t ever be able to participate in the fight, but he wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to either.
“Still not going to join, Sawada?” a sharp voice sounded to his right, and he jerked up to find himself staring at Hana Kurokawa, a fellow summoner and one of the only people in the school who was friends with him. Of course, he had her to thank for how smart he had gotten as she had spent the past two years tutoring him.
(Though she still gets pissed whenever she hears that he’s still not trying in class.)
Tsuna got over his slight shock, cursing himself for zoning out when he should have felt her presence, and instead gave her a small smile. “Let me just round up my hidden familiars so that I can join in a school event where people just hurt each other,” he snarked back at her.
Hana let out a laugh at that, small yet effective. She rarely laughed but being friends with Tsuna had let her loosen up a bit, she loved his wit when he was around her and Kyoko.
Speaking of Kyoko, the girl had run up to the two of them as they were leaving the classroom. Kyoko was Hana’s familiar, a small girl who was half fox. She stood at the same height as Tsuna, who was short for his age and gender, but both were considerably shorter than Hana. Kyoko had become Hana’s familiar over three years ago when they became best friends, and the two were inseparable. She specialised mainly in healing and didn’t have it in her to fight or hurt anyone, so she and Hana sat out of the duels every time.
“Kyoko, did you end up finishing the assignment we had due for history?” Hana asked the smaller girl, moving so she was standing on the other side of Tsuna, with Kyoko standing to the left of him.
“Ah, yes! I eventually got it done, Tsuna and I got it done yesterday when you were sick,” the fox smiled, linking her arm with Tsuna’s as he smiled back at her. “He helped me with most of it, it was hard to write about.”
Hana rolled her eyes fondly, looking over at the boy who kept his eyes ahead, even though he knew she was looking at him. When Tsuna had started hanging out with the two girls instead of being by himself all the time, rumours had spread that he and Kyoko were dating because she often held his arm or hand, or had her head on his shoulder. Hana didn’t really know why those rumours had spread though, Kyoko and Tsuna were both affectionate people by nature and did it simply for comfort, and Hana noticed that Kyoko was often calmed by his presence, which is part of the reason why she started to trust the boy.
“Why don’t you apply that knowledge in class, Sawada? You could shut up that old cow of a teacher and all the idiots with how smart you are,” Hana decided to say as they made their way to the roof where they usually ate.
Tsuna shrugged, holding the door open for them both. “They’d still make fun of the fact that I don’t really fit in, me being smart doesn’t really change much,” he sighed following them both out onto the roof.
Kyoko sat down first with her food in front of her, and Hana made herself comfortable across from her. “Which is why you’re a monkey, just like the others,” Hana scoffed as Tsuna joined them, making Kyoko giggle.
Tsuna let out a laugh at that, his eyes genuinely lighting up at that. “You still like me more though,” he grinned cheekily, avoiding a well aimed hit to the head from Hana.
“Tsuna’s passing at least,” Kyoko chimed in, managing to stop the argument before it could begin. Tsuna and Hana had a habit of getting into heated debates, and while they were healthy and friendly arguments, she knew that the two would never eat if an argument started up. Speaking of food… “Tsuna, why don’t you have food?”
That made the other two pause, and the boy put on a sheepish look while Hana’s eyes darkened in suspicion. “I… forgot it?” Tsuna tried, flinching when Hana let out a small growl.
“It wasn’t that asshole was it?” Hana shot at him, grabbing Tsuna’s chin to make her look at him. While the boy was good at hiding things and lying, he couldn’t do it when forced to look at someone, and tended to look away when he was hiding something. It was something that Hana had found out and told Kyoko about, but they were the only ones who knew Tsuna’s tell. “Don’t lie, Sawada.”
Tsuna squirmed under her glare, before ultimately giving up. Lying hardly ever worked against Hana (and consequently Kyoko, who could feel what her summoner felt). “Okay yes it was him,” he paused and bit his lip. ‘Him’ referred to one of Tsuna’s main bullies, a boy in a higher grade known as Kaito Morikawa. While there were a few other people who tended to pick on him, and some who tended to annoy him (aka his teachers and Mochida), Morikawa was the one who made things physical. “But it’s okay! He just took my lunch for today, I’ll eat something when I get home.”
Kyoko blinked at that, and Hana’s grip on Tsuna’s chin had tightened a bit, making him scrunch his face up in response. She muttered out a quick apology and let go, then grabbed her lunch and held it out to him. “Here, share mine. You’re skinny and you need to eat just as much as anyone else.”
“Oh! You can take some of mine, Tsuna!” Kyoko chirped, holding hers out too. Both girls watched as he looked at them both in surprise, before nodding and murmuring a small thank you before digging in.
--
“I’m home!” Tsuna called out as he walked into his house. School had finished for the day and Tsuna had managed to avoid his bullies for the rest of the day. He walked both Hana and Kyoko home like he tended to do everyday after school (but sometimes Kyoko’s older brother did it if he wasn’t busy, Ryohei was a strange guy).
He heard his mother call out from the kitchen, so he headed there after he took his shoes off. He found her in the kitchen cleaning the dishes, with a pot cooking some stew sitting off to the side. “I’m home mom,” he repeated, smiling at her when she turned around.
“Welcome home, Tsu!” she gushed, going to hug him when she remembered her arms and hands were dripping wet. She stopped herself at the last minute.
Tsuna laughed at that, giving her a one-sided hug so she didn’t have to move away from the sink, before turning to leave to head up to his room. He blinked though when he saw a flyer laying on the table. “Mom, what’s this?” he asked, picking up the flyer.
WE WILL TRAIN YOUR CHILD TO BE THE LEADER OF THE FUTURE GENERATIONS.
CALL TODAY.
XXX-XXXX-XXXX
“Oh! That was something I found in the mail. I figured it was a home tutor service,” Nana said, not turning away from the sink. She couldn’t see Tsuna’s scrunched up face as he felt his intuition try to warn him.
“You didn’t call did you?” Silence. “Mom, please tell me you didn’t call,” Tsuna pleaded, and Nana had finally turned from the sink with a reassuring look on her face.
“I thought it wouldn’t hurt. Your grades have been close to failing and I thought… You could use the extra help,” she said softly, her eyes softening at the look her son was giving her.
Tsuna let out a small huff of air, looking up at her instead of the flyer. “It could be a scam though, I don’t want you to lose money,” he explained, watching her smile at him and cup his cheek, not really minding that her hands were still wet.
“Don’t worry Tsu, your father will be sending some more money soon, but I have a feeling that this is a real offer and not a scam,” she said. She didn’t realise her son was worrying about things like that. But then again, in the past four years she’s realised that he’s started to grow up fast, and she knows that it’s most likely because his father hasn’t been home since Tsuna was only 5 years old.
He sighed, knowing his mother wouldn’t budge about it. He leant his cheek into her hand for a moment, before pulling away. He grabbed his bag back up again, the flyer still in his hands, and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be up in my room doing homework,” he said with a smile, running up the stairs to his room.
Nana watched him go before turning back to the dishes again, smiling as she thought about how much her Tsuna had grown up. She hoped the tutor was the right person to call to help him.
--
It was next morning when the ‘tutor’ arrived. Tsuna woke up to a seemingly normal day, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was different. For the time being though he ignored the warning and started getting ready.
He was halfway through getting dressed, just about to button up his shirt, when he heard it. A chirpy and small voice going “Ciassu!” was hard to ignore after all, when it was a weird greeting and it didn’t sound like his mother at all, who was the only other person meant to be in the house.
Tsuna blinked, looking around for the voice, and was about to shrug it off as imagining it when his intuition warned him of the bullet coming his way. He tilted his head to the side just as a bullet whizzed past him, making his heart beat fast at the thought that someone just tried to shoot him . He whipped around quickly, prepared for an attacker to be in his room, but what he found was more confusing.
He came face to face with a baby, dressed up in a black suit and a black fedora sitting on his head. He had a green handgun in his hand, the barrel still smoking from shooting a bullet. The baby looked no older than 5 years old, and looked tiny compared to Tsuna’s bedroom.
“Ciassu,” the baby said, a smirk on his(?) face as he stared at the shocked teenager. “My name is Reborn. I’m here to train you into a leader of the future generation.”
Tsuna stared at the baby, the words only just registering in his brain. What? Future generation? Leader? He was about to ask, when he remembered the flyer from yesterday. The tutor his mom had called up. Oh god no. “No. No no no, there is no way that can be true. You’re a baby !”
Reborn’s eyes glinted dangerously, and Tsuna’s intuition wasn’t quick enough to warn him of the green hammer swinging at his head. He hadn’t had any time to react to Reborn’s gun changing into a hammer and swinging at him, and as a consequence he was whacked into the wall. He hit the wall with a yelp and a loud crash, before sliding to the ground with a groan. He looked up at the baby, Reborn, who had made his way over to him.
“Don’t underestimate me, Useless Tsuna. I’m your new tutor,” Reborn said simply, the hammer changing back into a gun which Reborn held to Tsuna’s forehead. “I’m also a master hitman, and am capable of making you feel pain without killing you.”
Tsuna stilled at that, realising that Reborn wasn’t lying. There was no way that the killer intent Reborn radiated was fake. So instead, he sighed and relaxed against the wall, giving Reborn a grin. “Alright. You aren’t lying. But I don’t need a tutor.”
Reborn rolled his eyes. “Useless Tsuna. You average a 49-59% in all your tests and schoolwork. Your physical education grades are worse. And you are currently the only summoner in Namimori High with no familiars.”
“Wai-”
“Your mother called me with the intent to help you improve yourself. And that’s what I’ll do,” Reborn finished, keeping the gun trained on Tsuna.
Tsuna narrowed his eyes at that. “How do you know about that? I don’t even know if I’m a summoner, I’m certainly not showing the signs and powers of one.”
The baby grinned at him. “You’re a summoner, and a strong one at that. I’m going to train you so that you can harness those powers,” he said, his eyes shining. Tsuna didn’t like the look of that. “You’re in for a hell of a lot of training, Useless Tsuna.”