il dente di leone


Summary: I silently despaired. Why Tsuna? Why couldn't I have been reborn as a dandelion weed? At least then I would have a better chance of surviving! SI!fem!Tsuna


Disclaimer: Alas, I am too poor to own KHR. So nope, you won't want my autograph.


Chapter IX: In Which the Main Character Brings Home a Hit(wo)man


"Oh dear . . ." Nana murmured with pursed lips as she stood in front of our fridge. I snuck up to her and glanced in, and―

"Oh."

Well.

So, our fridge was apparently practically empty.

Well, on second thought, that wasn't a huge shocker. We were already feeding Hayato and Reborn when they started living here, and we just took in Lambo as well. And on top of all of that, Takeshi was also coming by for breakfast whenever he didn't have baseball practice.

Yeah, now that I thought back on it, emptying out our fridge was a given, especially since I had been pretty sick lately. Grocery shopping probably hadn't been the first thing on Nana's mind lately.

My mother chewed on her lip before sheepishly turning toward me. "Tsu-chan . . ."

"No problem, mum," I said with a smile before she even voiced her request. "With Reborn . . . encouraging me these days, I finished my homework early so I don't have to do it now. School doesn't start for a bit so I can just pop by the store and get us some groceries."

Well, I had been so eager to finish my homework because I wanted some extra time to practice violin in the mornings. With so many people in the house now, it was easier to get up early and practice than it was after school or in the evenings.

However, Nana didn't need to know that. She must have been exhausted lately, with all the new responsibilities I piled onto her because I kept bringing my future Guardians (?) home. I could help her do this small chore.

Nana's smile turned a bit brighter as she gave me a fond pat on the head. "Alright then, I'll count on Tsu-chan for breakfast!"


"Logic would say, 'pay it no mind'. Yet the heart would say, 'to pay it no mind would be to pay too much'."

― Craig D. Lounsbrough

"Why is there an alien in my brain?!"

― Me


A drop of sweat made its way down my face as I flicked away a strand of my damp hair in irritation.

It was absolutely sweltering outside. If sweet, dear Nana hadn't been the one who asked me to go do some shopping (and if our breakfast weren't depending on the precious goods I bought), I wouldn't have gone outside even if my life depended on it. Even Reborn hadn't deemed it necessary to tag along in this heat.

Then again, Hayato had offered to come help. Of course, I had turned him down, but even I felt a smidge touched at how he would brave the heat for me. I doubt I would have done the same even if I wanted to suck up to someone.

Grimacing, I tightened my grip on the grocery bag I held in my right hand before speeding up my pace. Personally, I was someone who was bad with both the heat and the cold. Sure, I might tolerate the heat a bit better than the cold, but feeling like I was baked alive was never a great sensation. And even if I didn't feel suffocated in this heat, I ought to hurry up anyway since Nana needed my spoils of war for breakfast. I still had school later too.

The moment I thought of school, I felt the corner of my lips twitching downwards. Oh, don't get me wrong, school itself was actually proceeding in a swimmingly fashion (for once). Ever since I had jumped off the roof after Takeshi, it was like the seal on my flames loosened. Time no longer warped, I could actually focus again, and most importantly, I could read. My grades had been steadily improving as well, to Nana's delight. As a result, her attitude toward Reborn had unfortunately warmed up considerably.

But no, my problem wasn't with school itself. My problem was with the people in school . . . or more specifically, the classmates who surrounded me.

Hayato's complete one-eighty regarding his attitude toward me had been enough! The school had already suffered a collective shock when the boy started trailing after me (Dame-Tsuna!) like a sweet puppy, quiet and obedient. However, they hadn't even recovered yet from that before Takeshi also began following me everywhere in school, a grin on his face as if he didn't notice all our classmates turning into statues from the shock.

Well, at least the rumour mill had exploded once again. Listening to all the rumours was beginning to become a source of entertainment for me.

Anyway, according to Reborn, Takeshi had already passed the Family Entrance Test while I had been sick at home. At the time, I had only gaped at the smug baby in silence. Didn't I, as the future boss of Vongola, have any say in that? When I finally found my voice and voiced that thought (which had resulted in Takeshi's bright smile faltering―I resolutely refused to feel guilty at the sight), I only earned a light smack on the head from Reborn. Well, that answered the question: of course I didn't.

Honestly, I wasn't sure of what to think of . . . this, whatever the tentative relationship between Takeshi and me and Hayato and me could be called.

On one hand, I didn't really trust either of them. Hayato was still creeping me out with his quiet hero worship. His interactions with Takeshi were very canon-compliant, and more often than not he would seethe to the point of pulling out his dynamite. However, whenever he interacted with me, it was like his short fuse had suddenly and dramatically lengthened. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate his sudden normalcy, but . . . seeing the rowdy boy so quiet whenever he approached me always made me feel a twinge of panic.

As for Takeshi . . . well, I trusted him even less than I did Hayato. Takeshi acted more like how he had in the anime and manga, all cheerful and happy as he chattered endlessly to me and Hayato. If it had been a couple of years ago, this would have been something I would love.

But now, I could only watch Takeshi with a detached gaze. The cold words he had whipped at me that day on the roof would drift into my mind whenever he turned to face me. It was impossible for me to hate him ―and Hayato, for that matter― but I wasn't going to trust them just because they decided to give me their time of the day now. In fact, I wasn't sure if I could ever trust them.

"It's so hot," I muttered to myself as I shielded my eyes and took a quick glance at the sky. I was so thirsty too . . .

Bring! Brrring!

Blinking at the sound of the sudden ringing, I reflexively turned around before I blinked in surprise. A girl was riding a bike down the road. I couldn't tell what she looked like since she was wearing a bike helmet and goggles that covered most of her face, but just by looking at her fabulous figure made it clear that she was probably a beauty.

Suddenly, the girl stopped in front of me. I blinked in surprise as she reached up to take off her helmet and goggles, and―

Oh, hell. How did I managed to forget about this?

Before me, lo and behold, was Bianchi ―Katekyo Hitman Reborn's Poison Scorpion― in the flesh.

. . . Geez, I was really kind of pathetic. I felt like I was going to throw up, and Bianchi hadn't even thrown her poison cooking at me yet.

The girl in front of me was really pretty and looked to be in her late teens. It was probably more difficult to show this in the anime and manga, and thus I had never really noticed it whilst reading the book, but Bianchi's appearance truly resembled Hayato's. Like Hayato, she had a touch of European blood to her facial features. It shown in the curve of her confident smile, and the shape of her jaw and nose. She had long and straight salmon-coloured hair (a colour that looked surprisingly natural ―I mentally shook my head at the eccentricities of the anime world), and Hayato's vibrant green eyes.

While I was quietly sizing Bianchi up, the girl in front of me was doing the same. I could feel her gaze flicker from my slightly wrinkled school uniform to the bird's nest that sat on my head, before finally settling on my face.

"Please," Bianchi said in slightly accented Japanese, voice smooth and seductive. "Have it, if you like."

And then she was looking away with clear dismissal (or was that perhaps distaste?) as she lobbed a can of something at my face. I reflexively reached up to grab it, before a sudden silent scream in my mind ―dangerous dangerous duckduckDUCK― startled me enough to make me pivot on my heel, narrowly missing the can that would have hit my forehead otherwise.

I stared at the can that rolled away from me. The fall had managed to loosen the opening of the can and whatever had been in it was already gushing out and making a small puddle. Bianchi was already speeding off on her bike, looking completely nonchalant even after she just tried to kill me.

Because that was exactly what this scene was supposed to be, right? Bianchi's . . . assassination attempt. It hadn't been the most important moment in the Daily Life arc of the manga so I somehow managed to completely forget it.

But yeah, an assassination attempt. I . . . didn't know what I should feel about this. A small voice inside of me ―probably the remaining wisps of my crumbling sanity― said that I should feel scared. Upset. Horrified. However, getting almost-killed by my future allies was becoming a startling common occurrence, so I only felt a bit emotionally detached as my gaze drifted away from Bianchi's back.

A bird made a dying squawk before it spiralled down from the sky and landed beside that opened can of poison. I stared at the can until I almost convinced myself that I could physically see the fumes of poison, before I quietly sighed.

Right, time to go home and inform Reborn of this. I turned around and began leisurely making my way home once again, ignoring the mess of poison behind me. Well, I seriously doubted that Reborn wasn't keeping an eye on me right now, so any of his subordinates could clean up that mess before I managed to accidentally poison myself or something.

The rest of my walk home went by in an uneventful manner and it wasn't long before I got home. After unlocking the front door of my house, I took off my shoes and set them neatly to the side before dropping off the groceries in the kitchen.

"Tsu-chan!" Nana beamed at me as she immediately made a beeline to my spoils of war. "Thank you for going to the market this early! You can take a seat in the dining room or go take a short nap, breakfast will be ready in a bit."

"Of course, mum," I said quietly as I gave her a small smile. Upon hearing my voice, Nana paused in her battle against the knot I tied on the grocery bag before she looked up and studied me carefully.

"Mum?"

"Mm," Nana started carefully as she stared at my easy smile in concern. "Tsu-chan, are you alright? Did something happen?"

For the first time today after encountering Bianchi, I felt something warm unfurl in my chest stuffed full of apathy. "Nothing happened, mum, don't worry about it. I have a question for Reborn, so I'll see you later during breakfast."

"Of course," Nana gave me one last, lingering look, before she nodded firmly and went back to making breakfast. I smiled at her bustling figure and then made my way upstairs.

"Reborn," I called out as I opened the door to my bedroom. "There's something we need to discuss―"

The rest of my sentence died a horrible death in my mouth, before unfortunately turning into a rather quiet squeak.

"Hmm?" Reborn hummed as he turned around, his whole head covered in giant beetles.

". . ." I took a deep breath, and then another one for good measure. Hey, don't look at me like that. Sure, I had to deal with bugs in my mandatory ecology lab in school in my life before, but that didn't mean I wasn't squeamish with them.

Bugs, ugh. "Do you emit tree sap or something?"

I swore Reborn sounded slightly amused as he replied, "They're my summer minions. They collect information."

". . . I see," I stamped down the urge to ask whether or not Reborn could speak bug before getting to the root of the problem. "Then, I'm sure you know that someone tried killing me on my way home today?"

"What?"

Whirling around, I came face-to-face with a Hayato who looked as if he was hit on the head by a hammer. His slack face twisted into something almost fierce before he caught sight of my face, and then it melted back into a slightly concerned look as he marched over and gently clutched my shoulders.

"Uh," I don't know why he was even trying to act nonplussed, because those green eyes of his still looked livid.

"Tenth," Hayato cut me off for once and began talking in a smooth, soothing tone. "Are you alright? Who was it? I knew I should have came with you . . ."

"I―I don't know," I replied, caught off-guard by Hayato's sudden appearance. Right, note to self, close the door the next time I wanted to interrogate Reborn. "She, uh, she threw me a can of pop but I didn't manage to catch it and the contents spilled onto the street. And then, the bird flying above it suddenly died, so I assumed . . ."

Hayato's already pale complexion took a ghastly turn as Reborn nodded his head. "That's right. Bianchi is in town."

"Bianchi . . . ?" I asked, feigning ignorance. "Who's that?"

But before Reborn could reply, the hands lying gently on my shoulders abruptly tightened and whirled me around. Suddenly, I was facing burning green eyes that desperately roved my body.

"Gokudera-san?" I asked, slightly breathless from the low pressure aura the teen was practically emitting.

"Tenth! Did you touch whatever she gave you? Did you?!"

"What? No! I told you, the bird had died from whatever fumes it was emitting! I'm not stupid enough to go touching it after seeing that!"

Hayato stared at my face for a moment longer before he released me. Then, slowly, gently, he pressed one of his freed palms to my forehead. "Well, you're not burning up, that's good . . ."

"I'm fine!" I took a discrete step back, pulling away from him before turning around to Reborn once again. "Reborn? Who's Bianchi?"

The baby had been carefully observing the interaction between me and Hayato. When he saw me focusing on him again, he raised on eyebrow (seriously, how do babies even do that?) and replied, "Bianchi is a former fellow hitman."

Hayato's delicate hands curled into trembling fists as I waited a few seconds. And then a few more seconds. Finally, I gave Reborn a deadpan stare, which only resulted in him returning a cheery smile. He didn't elaborate any more about Bianchi.

". . . I see," I said stiffly before ushering the two of them down for breakfast. Figures that would be all I got out of him.


"Baseball-idiot," Hayato declared stiffly the moment Nana was out of sight. His breakfast lay only half-finished on the table. "We need to be on guard today."

"Eh?" Takeshi paused, giving me a reprieve from whatever he was rambling about as he turned around to blink at him owlishly. Seeing Hayato's serious expression, he immediately set down his chopsticks. "Hayato, what do you mean?"

"Don't call me that!" The silver-haired boy blurted out by habit before he clenched his fists. Hayato spoke his next words by forcing them through his gritted teeth. "Tenth was attacked today."

"What."

Takeshi immediately turned back and carefully looked me over. His easy smile was still plastered over his face, even if his eyes had gone completely dead. "Tsuna, you should have told me earlier. Who was it?"

"Uh," I started slowly, kind of unused to all this attention. "It was―"

"It was my sister."

This time, two heads turned around to face the person who had just spoke.

"Half-sister," Hayato amended, as if that would appease and soften Takeshi's suddenly sharp eyes. "Bianchi. She goes by Poison Scorpion, and she uses poisonous substances to fight."

"Ah," I made a sound of acknowledgement as I pretended to be enlightened. "So, that can of pop . . ."

"Yeah," Hayato agreed grimly. "I'm glad you didn't touch it."

"Hold on a second," Takeshi cuts into our conversation with an incredulous tone. "Hayato, you mean to tell me that your sister tried to kill Tsuna today?!"

Hayato's pretty, green eyes flashed with an emotion I wasn't too familiar with. I didn't have time to ponder over it though, because Takeshi was anxiously grabbing my left arm a second later.

And then―

I couldn't help it. I flinched.

Immediately, Takeshi released my arm like he had been burned.

"Sorry about that, Tsuna, I didn't mean to startle you," the taller boy said with a strained chuckle. I stared at him, at his forced smile and those tired eyes, as something clenched inside my chest. For a split-second, I wanted to apologize for some absurd reason, even though I didn't know what I wanted to apologize for.

But that moment passed when worry dominated Takeshi's face. "Tsuna, how do you feel? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I responded a bit absentmindedly as I looked away and began poking my mostly uneaten breakfast. For some reason, my appetite was pretty bad today. "It isn't like this is the first time I almost died."

This time, both Takeshi and Hayato flinched.

Confused, I lifted my eyes from my breakfast as I asked, "Gokudera-san, Yamamoto-san, what's wrong?"

"I-I'm fine," Hayato's voice was strained as he looked away. "Tenth, I'm more worried about you."

"Yeah," Takeshi agreed as he went back to his breakfast, albeit much less enthusiastically compared to before. But then, the shadows in his eyes suddenly lightened as he gave me a determined smile. "But don't worry, Tsuna! I won't let anyone hurt you in the Mafia Game!"

The slight tension in the air suddenly dissipated as Hayato shot up and screeched.

"How much times do I have to tell you that it's not a game?!"

"Hahaha, don't worry Hayato! I won't let anyone hurt you too!"

"STOP CALLING ME HAYATO!"

"Eh, why? Friends call each other by their first names like this, Hayato!"

"I keep telling you, we're not―"

I heaved a sigh and went back to my breakfast as the two boys began bickering again.

Ugh, boys.


Class passed pretty uneventfully, and it hadn't felt like long before we were starting the final period of the day: self study for the boys and home economics for the girls. Bianchi didn't even attack us on our way to school, not like how I had vaguely remembered she did in canon. Both Hayato and Takeshi looked quite jittery though, and contrarily, they became more keyed up as the day passed.

Home economics was an elective class. All the girls usually chose it in some misguided hope that they would grow up to be Yamato Nadeshikos or something. Of course, all the girls but me. I was going to stay far, far away from the kitchen if I was able to, at least until my seal completely dissolved.

Maybe I could take it in high school or something? Then again, with a mother as amazing as Nana, I could just ask her for lessons if I really wanted to learn . . .

The ruckus from the boys suddenly snapped me out of my daze. Turning to see the commotion, I saw a bunch of them cheering as the cooks-in-training came back from their home economics class with some onigiri.

"Haha, those look good," Takeshi said with a chuckle as the other boys began rushing toward the girls. "Tsuna, do you want some?"

Hayato's eyes glinted.

"Not really," I said hastily, before impulsive Hayato decided to charge in and steal some onigiri for me. "I'm not hungry right now."

"Eh? That's a shame."

Back straightening at the new voice that broke into our conversation, I looked up to see Kyoko and Hana standing in front of us, each holding a plate of onigiri. Normally, I would have raised my guard at the sight of the two girls. Except this time, my attention was immediately attracted by something else. Kyoko's onigiri were . . .

My eye twitched. Was it just me, or was those onigiri smoking?

Wait a moment, some of Kyoko's onigiris were even moving! They looked like misshapened skulls too as their tiny hands started pulling themselves along the plate!

I frantically glanced at Takeshi and Hayato, but the two of them were acting as if they didn't see anything strange. Was I just hallucinating?!

"I was thinking of offering you some," Kyoko admitted, lowering her head in slight dejection. At their idol's distress, the other boys in the class began glaring at me. Even though Takeshi's chuckles turned a bit sharp and Hayato glared back, I had no doubt that these fanboys would have riddled me with holes if their looks could kill.

But, I digress, because there were more important matters to talk about here.

"Uh," I squeaked as I watched Kyoko's onigiris eat each other and grow bigger. Could this be considered as cannibalism? "That's . . . very kind of you. I guess one or two wouldn't hurt?"

Not that there were more than one onigiri left. Only a single victor remained on the plate by now.

"Sure, Tsuna-kun! Please enjoy them!"

Anyway, if by some chance I wasn't actually hallucinating, I couldn't let Kyoko terrorize others with her monster onigiri. That being said, I never knew she hated me this much . . . ?

Flashing me a bright grin, Kyoko set her plate down on my table before pulling Hana away. I stared at the onigiri a bit more, slightly transfixed as the evolved (?) onigiri made a large burp.

"Tenth?" Hayato's concerned voice snapped me out of my daze. Blinking, I waved my hand at Kyoko's onigiri and asked, "Don't you guys see this? Or am I hallucinating?"

"See what?" Takeshi asked in confusion as Hayato scooted over. The half-Italian boy stared at the monster onigiri for a few seconds . . . and then suddenly paled to a deathly white.

"Gokudera-san!" I exclaimed when the boy abruptly flipped my table, sending both my books and Kyoko's onigiri flying. Right after he did that, the boy collapsed to his knees and started dry-heaving. I hurried to pat him lightly on the back as someone called for a teacher.

"Tenth," Hayato said in-between coughs. "That's―Bianchi―cough, cough―"

"Ah," I suddenly understood. So, it had been Bianchi who switched out the onigiri? Huh, I vaguely remembered this happening in canon as well . . .

Well, at least now I know Kyoko wasn't trying to give me food poisoning. I caught her worried look as my eyes drifted over to her, and I forced myself to give her a reassuring yet apologetic smile.

In the end, Takeshi and I helped Hayato to the nurse's office and took care of him for the rest of the period.


I had gone out for some fresh air in the evening. There wasn't an earth-shaking reason as to why; Lambo had gotten rowdy enough that I just had to escape from the house. However, I hadn't yet walked for five minutes before I saw Bianchi again.

This time, she was huddled under a tree, looking pretty miserable. My footsteps paused for a second, and then I continued walking as if I never saw her.

Yeah, right. Even I wasn't naive enough to go speak to someone who tried murdering me multiple times today just because they looked sad. I wasn't that much of a bleeding heart.

But then I started thinking about how Bianchi had looked so young, how in canon she was almost like an adult-figure but in reality she was only seventeen, only a child, and then, before I knew it, I had doubled back to where she was still sitting under the tree.

. . . I wanted to slap myself.

Well, Reborn had to be keeping an eye on me, so I doubt I would get killed, right? I mean, this was still Hayato's precious big sister, even if their relationship wasn't the best right now . . .

"Go away, Sawada," came a muffled voice. The older girl had buried her head into her arms. Ignoring her words, I gingerly sat down a short distance away from her. Normally, I would advocate for alone time when someone wanted to wallow in misery, but for some reason, something told me that it would be better if I talked to Bianchi.

"Is something wrong?" I cautiously asked.

Silence. I waited patiently, until a small sniffle escaped the confines of Bianchi's arms.

"Reborn gave me a talk."

Ah.

Well, considering she was here crying and not trying even harder to off me, I could tell how that talk went.

"What happened?" I asked tentatively.

A longer silence this time. And then, Bianchi raised her head. He eyes were rimmed with red and faint tear tracks still covered her cheeks.

"He wants me to be your home economics and art tutor."

I stamped down the urge to blurt out and ask why Reborn rather Bianchi be my home economics tutor than Nana, but on second thought, perhaps he wanted me to learn how to poison people too? It was true that poisoning people was probably a more helpful skill set than cooking when one was slated to become a Big, Bad Mafia Boss.

"I see," I replied calmly. "And . . . you don't want to?"

Pretty green eyes (so much like Hayato's) peered at my face in complete shock. "Do I even have a choice?"

Well, when Reborn was the one commanding you to do something, I guess that was true . . .

"I can try talking to Reborn for you," I offered as I chewed nervously on my lower lip, even as something that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle erupted in my head. "You don't need to do this if you don't want to."

Now, Bianchi looked interested enough that she even forgot to continue crying. "Of course I want to," the girl said calmly. "I just wasn't sure how I was supposed to convince you, since I did, well, try to feed you my Poison Cooking today."

". . . What?"

Bianchi looked away before she whispered, "Reborn's there. My little brother . . . Hayato's there too. I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking when I kept attacking you. Neither of them would have ever forgive me if you got into an accident."

"And . . ."

"I don't think I would have forgiven myself either."


A few minutes later, I introduced Bianchi to my mother as Hayato stood shocked and stockstill in the hallway. A few minutes after that, I helped the boy navigate a conversation with his sister without having him double over from whatever Bianchi traumatized him with, and then Reborn came rushing in as he began congratulating me for recruiting Bianchi, and it was really all a clusterf*ck.

When I finally managed to escape back to my musical haven, I suddenly sat down onto the floor in a daze.

What . . . happened?

I just led another hitman into my own house.

And I had less reservations than I did when I brought Hayato home! Sure, I had a feeling that things would be fine (probably) when Hayato began staying with us, but Bianchi? It felt like something in my mind was prodding, begging me to take her home. It told me that things were supposed to be like this, that only this way would be right.

And I listened to it.

I stared at my hands blankly. What the hell was going on?


Chapter IX End


AN: Whoa, bet everyone forgot about me, right? Ahahaha, yeah I'm still alive. Just. Dying in university. My writing style has changed over the years so I hope this chapter wasn't too strange, and that people enjoyed it! I'm still hoping to finish this fanfic (does anyone even read this anymore?), so please cheer me on even with my slow updates!

Can anyone pick up the small hints and stuff scattered throughout the chapter, in regards to what the loosening seal is resulting in and how Hayato and Takeshi's relationship stands with this Tsuna? I tried to make it as obvious as possible without saying it plainly LOL.

Anyway, thank you all for the favourites, follows, and reviews! /weeps again/ We're almost at 2k followers, that's amazing! Before I forget, come find me on twitter at sakhyuu! I'll tweet about fics and you guys can ask me things there haha~

Thanks and happy holidays, everyone!