TRIGGER WARNING: Misgendering, sexual harassment, assholes with an inability to take no for an answer. (These are all BAD. I'm not going to romanticize them. At least I hope I won't. Please tell me if I accidentally do.)

Iemitsu wasn't there when Sawada Tsunayoshi was born. Sawada Nana couldn't help but be a little bitter about that fact, but she couldn't really hold it against him. Iemitsu was a busy man after all, considering that he was the chief commander of Vongola's royal defense. Still, while Nana was extremely forgiving, she could still be rather vindictive. Hence, although Iemitsu knew that Tsuna had been born, he did not know anything else.

Which probably led to the problem Tsuna was facing here today.

"No man will lay their hands on my precious daughter!" Iemitsu declared, dramatically shielding Tsuna's small form from the world with his body. Tsuna looked up at his father with weary eyes as he tried to get out of the elder Sawada's grasp.

"I'm a boy, dad," he sighed. Iemitsu looked at him, confused.

"Now's not the time to joke around, Tsuna!" He brushed off Tsuna's words easily as he continued to hug his child. Tsuna gritted his teeth but dealt with it. His mother did tell him that not everyone would be able to understand his situation.

"Sorceress Supreme Nana, your child has a great destiny. However, since he is neither nobility nor royalty, he will need an extra push in order for him to be able to fulfil it."

"You will not lay a hand on my child."

"Ah-ah! If you fight me right now, the sudden influx of magic will attract all sorts of things. Imagine what will happen if your enemies found the child of the elusive Sorceress Supreme?"

"Tch…"

"Relax~ It's not like there's no cure. So, what will you choose? A dead child, or a child with a somewhat harmless curse?"

"Somewhat harmless…? Are you kidding me?"

"Would you rather him dead?"

"…"

"Good choice."

Tsuna bowed to the prince. "Your majesty, I would like to humbly request access to the palace's library." He kept his eyes on the floor, bashfully not wanting to make eye contact with the prince. There was a long period of silence and Tsuna chanced a glance up at the prince.

Prince Giotto Vongola's blue eyes were wide open, and his gaze was fixed onto Tsuna. There was a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks as he basically gaped at the boy. Tsuna winced and quickly checked himself to see if there was anything weird about his appearance. However, from the way the prince looked, it was as if he had… a crush…

Tsuna blanched.

From the beginning, Tsuna had felt that there was something wrong with him. It wasn't that he felt particularly uncomfortable in his own skin, but he felt that there was something wrong with the way other people looked at him. He couldn't explain how or why, but he hated it when people addressed him with female pronouns, when they talked about how pretty he was, how very feminine he acted…

It didn't matter how beautiful the dresses he wore were, or how gorgeous his hair was done, whenever he looked in the mirror, he hated what he saw. It was as if the person he saw in the mirror wasn't him.

One day, he couldn't take it anymore.

With shaking hands, he grabbed a fistful of his long, brown hair, picked up the scissors and…

"So…" Tsuna looked around the pile of books he had been burying himself in to see the prince fidgeting at the other side of the table. He tilted his head to the side, waiting for the prince to continue talking.

"Well, you know that even though I am in charge of the Vongola kingdom, I'm still a prince. That's because a prince can't be king unless, he's married." He fidgeted some more, scratching his reddened cheek and avoiding eye contact with Tsuna.

Tsuna had a bad feeling about this.

"Throughout these years, I've never found a woman that I've felt a connection to. But now…"

Tsuna slowly put down his book and straightened up, looking at Giotto seriously.

"Your majesty. With all due respect, I am a male," he said in a deadpan. Giotto blinked, and then frowned.

"Sawada, you don't have to make such an excuse to reject me. I won't have you exiled just for that," he laughed awkwardly. Tsuna relaxed a little. "I'll just find a way to win you over. Flowers, sweets, books…" He smiled as he gestured towards the pile of books Tsuna was currently hoarding. "Whatever you want, I can give it to you."

Tsuna stared at him, mouth open for a few seconds, before he decided to repeatedly slam his head onto the table, to the horrified bewilderment of the prince.

His mother was not upset by his actions. In fact she was incredibly neutral about the situation, listening to her child talk about his thoughts and feelings without showing an ounce of judgment.

"So, you think that you are a boy," she summarized. Tsuna nodded, slowly and hesitantly at first, but soon became more confident.

"Yes. I am a boy," he replied, softly but firmly. Nana smiled.

"Alright then. Would you like new clothes?"

"Yes, please."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay any longer?" Giotto pressed, accompanying Tsuna as the latter was on his way out of the palace. Tsuna gave him a strained smile.

"Yes, your highness, I'm pretty sure. I've got places to go, people to meet, an irritating wizard to defeat. A pretty packed schedule, you know?" Tsuna hitched his rucksack, full of books that Giotto had generously allowed him to borrow, up onto his shoulders and gave a little wave. Giotto caught his wrist and stared intensely into Tsuna's eyes.

"A wizard? Isn't that dangerous?" he asked, concerned. Tsuna shrugged and pried Giotto's hand away.

"Yeah but I'm a sorcerer. Pretty sure I can take him down. Probably." Tsuna fiddled with the straps of his rucksack, extremely unsure of himself. In all actuality, he was scared shitless. Well, he wasn't going to tell Giotto that.

Giotto's hand slowly moved up to cup Tsuna's face and Tsuna took a step back. Giotto carried on talking like there was nothing wrong. "Still, to let an innocent maiden–"

"I'm not a maiden."

"–go to face a great threat alone, regardless of the fact that she is a sorceress–"

"Sorcerer."

"– is basically ungentlemanly of me! At least let me go on this adventure with you to ensure your safety?" Giotto finally finished, grinning at Tsuna charmingly. Tsuna could almost swear that the background had suddenly filled with blooming flowers and pretty sparkles. It was extremely unnerving.

"No," he replied firmly.

"No," Tsuna muttered to himself under his breath. "This can't be happening."

Giotto hummed happily to himself as he walked beside Tsuna. Tsuna really couldn't believe that Giotto had managed to somehow convince his kingdom and even Tsuna's father into going on a quest with the sorcerer. Although, Iemitsu had handed Tsuna a very sharp dagger while glaring openly at the blond prince, loudly stating that Tsuna was to use anything in his arsenal to defend himself if anyone tried to take advantage of him. Tsuna was somewhat grateful for the sentiment, really, but he reckoned that he could take care of himself. Probably.

Giotto tried to surreptitiously brush his hands against Tsuna's and Tsuna immediately turned and walked to the other side of the road.

"Your highness, please don't," he said brusquely. Giotto nodded in understanding, but slight disappointment.

"I'm moving too fast, aren't I? I apologise, I should have known to take things slow."

Tsuna gritted his teeth as he stuck his hand into his pocket and dug out his wand, hitting the prince straight in the face with a wordless spell. Giotto swayed on his feet for a while before collapsing and turning into an unconscious, small, orange-yellow cat. Tsuna smiled in vindictive glee and strode over to Giotto before picking him up and stuffing him into his rucksack.

Now he had at least two whole hours of harassment-free time to himself. He really did love his mother.

"Tsu-kun, I have a spell to teach you!"

"Another one? Cool!"

"Use this whenever you're irritated at someone. The spell timing should vary according to your mastery level. Now, since you're my son, I expect you to be able to sustain the spell for at least two hours!"

"Yes, mum! I won't let you down!"

(strums out-of-tune guitar) I'll write what I write and I won't feel bad

[So this was supposed to be a halloween special one-shot but i couldn't get it done in time and something happened. my update schedule for this will be similar to Repercussions of a Wish]

yet again, my love for nana shines through.

character species will be slightly based on the Monster Tamer Tsuna omake