Edit 14/06/12 – Some lovely readers have told me of a silly mistake and this is just a re-edited version. Nothing much has changed but some grammar and spelling checks... so you don't need to read it!

Here's a little opening to a new story I created, it will be a drabble-like series a total of maybe ten chapters, no longer, and probably no shorter... It's semi-AU so there might be very brief, subtle mentions of Mafia in the end if not somewhere in the middle, I haven't really thought about it.

I hope you enjoy it despite my spelling, grammar, and tense errors.

Fated strings and charming things.

What he sees.

According to a certain faiths and beliefs there is a red string tied to your body, this string is there from when you are born, it will follow you until you die and is never to be removed. This red string is incredibly strong, I will stretch and knot and tie with other strings, will snag and wrap and twist with other people, but no matter how tangled or knotted it becomes it will never break; over the years of your life it may fray and it may look like a snap is inevitable, but rest assured, this red string of fate will never break.

Now, this string is said to connect you to people, so you could have more than one string connected to you at any one time, it isn't really certain to whom it connects you, only that the one it connects you to is someone you are fated to meet, they may be your soul mate, a friend, a protector, but in the end this string of fate will lead you to them, and inevitably you will be changed by that meeting in some way.

Some say this red string will connect everyone you have a significant impact upon; that could be a stranger in the street, someone you would never look twice at on a normal day or any day after this fated meeting that the red string dictated, or this string of fate may have only meant that you were to help them on a miserable day that may have been their last, or that they heard a comment that changed and broadened their view, but it could mean you saved their life more literally, or changed it in the same way. This string of fate, the red line that writes your past, present and future, could tie you to a friend who has been by your side throughout your entire life since childhood, and whose life is fuller and livelier than if this string were not tying you together indefinitely.

In the end this string of fate is something you cannot see but can have faith and trust in to pull you towards where you are meant to be; a faith in destiny and fate and in meetings and possibilities.

Sawada Tsunayoshi never really believed in fate or destiny, he was of the opinion that his actions and decisions were his own, and that whatever he decided to say or how he decided to act were the reasons for his failures or successes. He wasn't an incredibly intelligent young man, but certainly was not stupid either, at seventeen he was with average grades- though could do better with little effort- and a fairly charming personality, somewhat solitude in his choice of a social-life and was happy that way, because in the end it was his decision.

While he had lived on his own for the past year and a half, he visited his mother and his adopted siblings as often as school and work would allow, usually on the weekends when he needed a hot meal and the affections his siblings bestowed upon him with gusto, because in the end they loved their big brother Tsuna more than anyone else- through they wouldn't admit they loved him more than their Mama.

Tsuna smiled as he walked down the busy, crowded streets of Namimori towards his mothers humble, three bedrooms home. As he walked down the streets, faint lines caught his eyes. Red lines, thick and noticeable where they touched the skin or clothing of the people to which they were attached, before slowly fading out as they reached further into the air. Tsuna smiled softly, he did enjoy wondering where it was those strings were leading. Did they reach overseas? What fate did they dictate? How long would it be until those strings met again, or met for the first time?

Tsuna walked through the streets, passing people and their strings as he strode down the streets, he smirked to himself, allowing one red string- attached to a young girl he observed- to wrap around his hand for a moment, the string glowed brightly for a moment, and Tsuna followed the rushing glow as it raced toward another young girl chasing the owner of the string. Tsuna loved watching the relations and fate when the strings glowed.

Smiling and releasing the string, Tsuna arrived at his home, happy to be back in the comforting place where his fate was decided. He opened the door and called a greeting into the warm house, smiling as he watched four red strings move with the change in pressure caused by the open door and his entrance.

Tsuna was greeted by three tumbling, soft bodies colliding with his waist and chest. Smiling and stooping down Tsuna ruffles each head in greeting before placing a kiss upon each of the three foreheads.

Tsuna's siblings loved him more than anyone, and Tsuna returned the love with enthusiasm. He smirked internally when the children started chatting, as they did their love was made evident in their words and the way the thick red strings wrapped around their torsos glowed and light raced towards the thick red strings wrapped around Tsuna's own waist.

"Tsuna-nii!" three calls greeted, and Tsuna couldn't help but smile as the love washed over him.

"Fuuta, I-pin, Lambo, it's good to see your doing well. I hope you've been behaving for mama." He smiled and led the way into the humble kitchen where he could smell his mother baking cinnamon buns- Tsuna's favourite breakfast.

"Ora. Of course Lambo-Sama has been good for mama Tsuna-nii!" I-pin nodded, obviously agreeing with the loudmouth boy.

Lambo was Tsuna's eight year old adopted brother; he was short, sturdy, but surprisingly delicate when it came to his emotional well being. Since he arrived in Tsuna's life he's been dependant, and the most possessive of the siblings. His hair was poufy and curled, black as ebony and soft as satin threads. His eyes were the colour of seaweed, green, but with that tinge of brown, they tended to be watery, spurred to tears by Lambo's constant emotional imbalance, but were always filled with a spark of arrogance- and when directed at Tsuna; love.

I-pin was Lambo's twin sister, they were fraternal twins obvious, born to a teenage mother who could not handle them, I-pin was a tomboyish girl with a long braded mane of black hair. She often dressed in Chinese influenced clothing- brought on by their mom's insistence in exploring I-pin and Lambo's heritage (which was Italian-Chinese)- but was more inclined to wear girlish, western clothing when Tsuna was around because she wanted to show she was growing up. Her eyes were a deep brown, and sparkled with a maturity Tsuna thinks stemmed from being one of two females in a house of boys.

"Yeah, Tsuna-nii, you're the one who hadn't been a good boy!" Fuuta elaborated as he clung to Tsuna's chest.

Fuuta was Tsuna's eldest younger sibling, he was possessive and shy, but protective of the younger siblings despite the initial jealousy he felt directed at them. His hair was cut short, kissing the nape of his neck and the longest strand just brushing his eyebrows, it wasn't quite blonde, but neither was it brown, it was also a little more straw-like than Lambo's or I–pin's, but that was most likely due to Fuuta being almost thirteen. His eyes were the warmest brown Tsuna has ever witnessed, rivaling even his and his mother's own chocolaty hues, there was an intelligence in his eyes, and Tsuna felt himself swell with pride, because Fuuta was a genius and loved to learn. He didn't enjoy school, or at least didn't like his teachers, and learned much like Tsuna did at his age; Fuuta learned through his own research.

"How have I been a bad boy?" Tsuna asked as he took a seat at the dining room table, he was pleased to see the red strings around him and the three children brighten from their already dark crimson, because it could only mean good things in the end.

You see, Tsuna may not have been a great believer in fate, but he could certainly see the strings that dictated it. He was young when he first discovered the ability, in fact the first true time Tsuna payed attention to the strings was when Fuuta, Lambo, and I-pin came into his life.

Tsuna was six when Fuuta entered his life; he was a bouncing baby boy that Tsuna's mother had adopted when she had heard he had been abandoned on the steps of the local orphanage when he was less than a year old. Of course Tsuna's initial jealousy wore off when he realised how alone the baby was, and immediately some kind of protective instinct surfaced in him and had only gotten more ferocious over the years.

Nana of course couldn't have been happier that Tsuna had accepted Fuuta, especially when he was so shy and unsocial outside the house, she encouraged Tsuna to play and teach Fuuta and that only increased that instinctive protection within Tsuna. The shy, loveably boy soon flourished under Tsuna's love and protection, he followed Tsuna closely, rarely straying from Tsuna's side as he grew, and eventually they became inseparable.

When Fuuta was two and Tsuna was seven he noticed something. Tsuna had been vaguely aware of these weird lined on his mother, and the strangers on the street, but had often put it to his imagination simply because his mother- and those strangers- never seemed bothered by the strings. But when he was seven he noticed that the string on Fuuta, the one that he sometimes caught leading to his waist, was thicker. He didn't have to squint anymore to see it connecting him, and he didn't need to be in a darker place to see the brilliant crimson hue the string held. Tsuna questioned why it was so suddenly that the string changed, but when he grabbed it to explore it Fuuta suddenly swung around a smiled, warmth flooded the red string and Tsuna had to fight the urge to tug the string, because if Fuuta swung around when he touched it, he didn't know what would happen if he tugged it.

From then on Tsuna noticed some things about the strings. He started paying attention to who was connected to whom, and started playing with the strings out of curiosity and desire for the knowledge they promised.

He learned that the darkness of the red dictated how closely bonded the two connected were. Later he would rephrase 'connected' to something like 'fate' but when he was seven he was unaware of the myth of the fate strings.

He also learned that he could not follow the strings very far, unless two people who were connected were close- on average about two meters as far as he could tell- the strings would fade into the air until they became invisible. While this made Tsuna pout at the time, he wasn't really bothered until later in his life when Lambo and I-pin entered his and Fuuta's life.

His mother arrived home with two babies, Fuuta was four at the time and Tsuna was almost ten. Tsuna still didn't understand where his mother got her compassion, but he loved her for it because it made her an amazing person whom all the children could look up to without fear of being lead astray.

Almost immediately Fuuta didn't like the babies, Tsuna was sure that was because their mother took Tsuna's 'Fuuta-time' away so Tsuna could help look after them, but Tsuna noticed something strange. The babies already had thick red strings wrapped around their waists and they were already connected to Tsuna and Fuuta.

This was very strange to Tsuna. As far as Tsuna was concerned, the strings meant 'bond' because Fuuta and him had a thick red rope connecting them, and Tsuna and Fuuta had a string connected to their mother. However, when Fuuta arrived he only had one string, and that was dull and attached to his wrist- it was still there now that he was almost thirteen, but wasn't very red any more. So when the babies had such a red string attached to their torsos- something Tsuna learned meant something important- and it was already attached to Fuuta and Tsuna, well Tsuna got curious.

From there on Tsuna started to research the strings, he was intelligent, maybe not in school but in personal life, he thirst for knowledge and when a problem presented itself he took it upon himself to research and learn about the problem.

As Tsuna's understanding of the strings deepened, so did his curiosity and bond with the three children who were suddenly thrust into his life. By the time Tsuna turned fourteen, with Fuuta being nine and Lambo and I-pin being five, the four of them were inseparable and their red strings glowed strongly. Tsuna could be happy in saying that the strings crossed each other and made an intricate pattern of a square filled with triangles as the strings crossed and connected each of them to each other in a way only Tsuna may be able to physically see, but that all four of them could physically feel.

"Because you're late!" the three children shook Tsuna from his musing as they glared at him. Tsuna laughed, knowing that the cute, round pouts on the children's faces were meant to be angrier than they looked. He ruffled their hair and smiled again as his mother placed food in front of him.

He greeted his mother softly, kissing her cheek as she placed the plates on the table, he was happy to notice that there were another number of red strings coming off his mother, while none were as intimately placed as the ones connected to her four children, and while that saddened him he knew his mother was happy, but they did fall ever increasingly off her arms and legs, one was tied to her neck, and another around her upper thigh.

Tsuna had also learned that any strings attached to the torso, were special and said a lot about the fate the people connected had with each other. He guessed- adding to how own ever increasing theory- that it was because the torso was so central to a person, whereas the limbs-while important- could be lived without. Where in the torso the strings were didn't matter, because Tsuna knew he could not be connected any closer to his siblings than being blood, yet they were wrapped around his waist, and not to his chest. What did matter to Tsuna was the shade of the string, the thickness, and how frayed the string was along its length.

"Oh? I'm late am I?" he answered the children again as he took a large bite of the hot cinnamon bun covered in thick, white icing.

"Yeah!" Fuuta elaborated elegantly, icing coating his face despite him turning thirteen within the year.

"Yeah Tsuna-nii, you were suppose to arrive earlier this week, because you told Lambo-sama that you had a few extra days off!" Lambo explained as his mother wiped icing from his nose.

Tsuna turned to gaze at the slightly betrayed look in Lambo's eyes. It hurt to see that, and a short, sudden flash of pain tightened across his chest. His eyes flickered quickly to Lambo's chest, and followed the long, thick, shocking green string that connected Lambo and Tsuna in a way Tsuna still didn't truly understand.

Tsuna noticed the string when Lambo was one. While he had noticed something many times before the afro-haired child's first birthday, just like the strings before Fuuta's arrival Tsuna's childish mind had put it down to imagination (imagine that, after seeing so many other impossible, real things Tsuna actually still believed that the strings were imagination) but when Lambo turned one a green string appeared bright, warm and tightly wound around Tsuna's chest.

It was sudden, but at the same time not. Tsuna had always felt something heavy on his chest, and he always put it down to his skin being too tight- because that's what it felt like- but when Lambo looked at him, love evident in his eyes, that weight doubled, and Tsuna remembered way back to the time when Lambo and I-pin arrived, when he caught sight of the green string leading from his chest to Lambo's. Since then the string had tightened and thickened, and Tsuna felt so much closer to Lambo because of it.

"You're getting more like Otou-san Tsuna-nii!" again, Tsuna was ripped from his muse, because while the other children had sounded chastising, I-pin sounded more distressed, and Tsuna immediately felt guilty about arriving two days later than he promised he would.

"Now now, Tsuna's here now, so you don't need to be upset with him! Besides, you know Otou-san can't help not being at home all the time. He's working really hard all over the world! In fact, he said he'd be able to get back for Tsuna's birthday at the end of the week."

Tsuna visibly stiffened at the statement. While he didn't hate his father, he didn't really respect him either. Tsuna's childhood had very little to offer with regards to his father, be that memory or image, and he knew that his siblings had even less. Tsuna was old enough now to understand that his father needed to work to feed and provide for them, but when he was younger he didn't, and he knew that his siblings didn't understand now in the same way that Tsuna didn't at their age; especially now with Tsuna gone all the time. And that made Tsuna increasingly guilty and was what drove him to come home so often and live only an hour or so away from his close-knit family.

Tsuna had taken almost two weeks off from work and school for his birthday- only because he wanted to spend it with his family- and while his mother assured them that his father had promised to be there, he doubted his father would be home- any time soon- though the thought didn't really upset him as it should. His father worked away, so much so that the red string tied to Tsuna's right wrist was dull and bleak, and it showed while Tsuna's entire life was connected to the man, he had very little to do with him. You see, Tsuna realised soon after understanding his ability, that blood families were connected in a triangle by the dominant wrist no matter how much or how little the parents or children had to do with each other's lives. The children are connected to their birth parents, and these parents are connected also, then each sibling –by blood- was also connected. So Tsuna wasn't worried when, over time, the red string he knew was attached to his father started to dull and fade, it was because his father had very little- if any- influence on his life, or as Tsuna later thought about it, his father had very little to do with Tsuna's fate. Tsuna was strangely fine with that.

"I'm sorry, but don't worry, I've take two weeks off to spend with you! So you need to think of some things for us to do together alright?" when his siblings visibly brightened, Tsuna felt better about digging into his food and listening to the excited babble as the children told and retold Tsuna everything about their day, week, and month.

They started telling him things that happened two months ago, each of them interrupting each other to add their own opinion or experience, and while Tsuna knew everything they were telling him well- because he heard about them every time he visited- he knew he couldn't make himself feel less annoyed because he thrived on such moments in his life, especially when the strings around his torso tightened comfortably as his siblings smiled. While some siblings Tsuna's age would yell at their siblings and tell them to 'shut up, I know already' because they had spoken on the phone only a few nights before, Tsuna could only smile, laugh, and feel unconditional love and connection with the siblings arguing for his attention.

After dinner Tsuna's mother said she had to meet a friend and left Tsuna and the children to sit comfortably in the living room, all four of them piled into the three-seated couch, each of the younger having to be either sitting on, or touching Tsuna in some way, if nothing else than to be assured that he was still there and loved them.

Tsuna started absentmindedly messing with the strings around his siblings, letting the strings twist and wrap around his palm and fingers, he let love and unconditional protection pour into the strings, and was delighted when he felt his siblings relax and calm under the pressure. When he found a slight tear, or the beginning of a fray, Tsuna would pat it down and smooth his thin fingers over it, eliciting a contented sigh from the owner of the string, and balancing Tsuna in the process. Tsuna often hoped that by doing such a mundane action that he was maybe soothing a worry, or ridding his siblings of a nightmare as anyone would hope when they were as close to his siblings as Tsuna was to his.

Tsuna tugged a little too forcefully on Fuuta's fate string, and cursing under his breath as Fuuta shifted in his sleep, he couldn't fight the soft smile on his lips when tired words greeted his ears.

"Did you want something Tsuna-nii?"

"No, go back to sleep, you need all your energy if we're going to do all the things you wanted to do in the next two weeks." Tsuna's soft whispers were greeted with a soft, tired smile and finally long, even breathing.

As Tsuna tucked the children into bed, his last story weaving happy dreams in their slumber, Tsuna noticed something that left a contented smile upon his lips. The red strings connecting the children were changing. Yes they were still as crimson as the blood coursing though his system, but there was something new about it, a spider-like thread was beginning to creep along the lengths of the strings in a hue of brilliant orange reminiscent of the setting sun on a summers evening.

Tsuna may have not been a great believer in fate and strings, but it was hard to deny tangible proof of some kind of fate and connection when it was staring him in the face.

Tsuna had heard many times over about the red string, and since he was young could see and somewhat manipulate this, but Tsuna had never heard of the other colours.

As Tsuna stared into the mirror in his bathroom, stripped to his blue boxers as his toned, lithe body tensed and moved as he breathed, his brown eyes drifted over his planar chest.

Wrapped around his chest were seven strings. Each one was a different colour, wrapped tightly enough at least thrice to be noticeable, but loose enough to be like a comforting embrace so that he always knew they were there, and he knew that on the end of them someone was waiting to meet him.

One string was Red, a red deep and warm, while to anyone else- if shown the strings- it was the same as another fate string, to Tsuna there couldn't be more difference between them. Tsuna had years of experience reading the strings after all, and he could see the subtle, but warm silver threads within the string, giving it a mystical, eerie glow. When Tsuna touched the red string wrapped around his chest he felt a heaviness that was both suppressing and supportive, and knew instinctively this person was protective and also untrusting.

Another string was blue, deep and warm, like the ocean, it had various different colours woven throughout, greys embedded in the string, like storm clouds ready to drop rain. When his fingers brushed the blue he was filled with a sense of calm and tranquility, he felt suppressed emotions, and knew this person felt very restricted, masked constantly and waiting for release.

A yellow string stood bright against the other- somewhat darker –coloured strings, the bright colour exuded warmth, when Tsuna's fingers brushed against the chord he was always overwhelmed with a cleansing, as if healed internally. The warmth from the string always comforted him when he was scared or lonely; Tsuna knew this person was an older brother.

Indigo was the next string, and Tsuna couldn't really describe what he saw in it, there were to distinct colours making up the string, one was lighter in colour, soft and feminine, and the other was darker, cruller and had blacks and blue woven within. When his hands brushed this string, and they often did, he felt contradicting yet matching warmth. One warmth was protective to the point of cruelty, never failing to pull a shiver of apprehension from Tsuna, and he knew this person would get what he wanted and fight to his death to keep it safe. The second warmth was soft, kind and shielded, as if this someone had the greatest capacity to love and cherish, but had not been given the opportunity. The Indigo string always caused great curiosity within Tsuna, because he just couldn't pinpoint how two people could be so closely bonded that they shared onestring. Because it meant they shared one fate, and that just didn't bode well in Tsuna's mind- for either of the string's owners.

Another string was purple, and while people would call him crazy, it was a totally different colour to the indigo, it was darker in colour, less blue and more black, but within the string- the tightest one of the bunch that sat further down Tsuna's chest- there were white threads and sometimes- though Tsuna thought himself insane for thinking so- sometimes he thought the white threads moved. Aggression flowed from the string, and an untrusting that Tsuna couldn't help but be saddened by, because the string was tight to his chest, as if simply wanting to be close to someone else despite the intimidation the string gave off, Tsuna knew instinctively this person would never truly harm anyone who he held dear.

The final string didn't really have a colour, it was not yellow or orange, not blue or white or black or green, it shifted in colour, and Tsuna started to learn that its owner was not as he appeared. The string's colour were most likely representing his emotion, and his emotions –or how they were read- obviously played a major part in his fate, or else his string would not change so. Tsuna was most curious about this string, because he had never seen emotions play such a heavy influence on one's fate as this string had. He needed to meet this person, if for no other reason than to be a friend to them and show them that it wasn't all on their shoulders.

Tsuna had learned over the years, through experience and mistake that the thicker and darker the string the more heavily intertwined your fate was with the person at the end of the string. Normal red strings that were connected to people who met in passing tended to wrap around a limb once and then travel again, the lines tended to be a light red, not pink, but not crimson either and they tended to be barely noticeable, Tsuna tended to forget they ever existed.

These strings tied around his torso were different though, because they made themselves known daily, sometimes tightening to a momentary pain, as if signaling the person on the other end was in great emotional strain and their string was being stretched to the point of being frayed.

Tsuna mutely touched the strings, feeling warm when he did, as if his feelings were travelling down the strings to their owner. Each of the strings, despite being different colours to red also had a thick, orange string twisted around them, this orange string not only wrapped around and protected the individual string but connected all seven strings to each other at Tsuna's chest; now Tsuna wasn't sure what it was that told him, but he knew that that orange string was his. Maybe it was the way the green string that touched and embraced Lambo had the same thick, orange string wrapped around him, or the way that Tsuna couldn't find the knot where the orange string was tied off, all Tsuna knew was that these strings were precious, and that his fate with the owners of this orange coated strings was heavy.

He smirked then because he didn't believe in fate, but he was certainly willing to change his mind if it meant he was going to meet more interesting people like Lambo in his future.

So what do you think? I was just curious to see if this kind of story would be popular or interesting. I love writing about controversial topics like fate and God because I love debates, and I try to be as fair and tasteful as I can when writing about them seriously... but I suppose you can tell me if I was or was not eh?

Thanks for reading.

Review S'il vous plait J

~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3