#tsunakyoko

"Thank you, ma'am!" she called back before skipping up the stairs. "Tsunaaaaa! Good afternoon!" she shouted to announce her presence. The boy's bedroom door was slightly ajar, spilling the waning daylight into the comparatively gloomy hallway. Kyoko knitted her eyebrows when she heard Tsunayoshi make as if to respond, only for his greeting to veer off into pained yelps and shouts. "Tsuna? Are you all right?" she asked as she walked forward and pushed the door open. 

The budding mafioso sat in the middle of his floor, wearing only a pair of boxers as he tended to the myriad of bruises, scratches, and scrapes marring his thin but toned body. Kyoko only blinked, more concerned about his injuries than the fact he was nearly naked. In the infancy of his blooming Dying Will powers, he'd run around in his underwear all the time, so it honestly didn't faze her. 

Tsunayoshi flashed her a disconcerted frown when she entered the room, then realized it was her and jumped. 

"Ah! Kyoko! I thought you were my mom!" he yelped and snatched the comforter off his bed to wrap it around his person. Kyoko laughed good-naturedly and sat on her knees beside him, brushing a few bandage wrappers aside. The boy exhaled heavily, wincing as he stretched out one of his legs to display a nasty scrape adorning his knee. “That Reborn… He’s killing me with all this training!” 

It was a sad fact that Kyoko was quite used to seeing Tsunayoshi— and many of the others, for that matter— beaten black and blue. Though Tsunayoshi had explained all the Vongola family’s eccentricities and his involvement when they’d been spirited ten years into the future, there was still much of his life that Kyoko had yet to understand. All she knew that she needed to support him. 

“Well,” Kyoko hummed as she grabbed the first-aid kit and pulled it closer to herself, “I’m sure Reborn is just doing what he believes is best for you.” 

“Kyoko! I’m not becoming a mafia leader! I’m not !” he retorted in a nasally whine. Kyoko released another light-hearted giggle as she rifled through the first-aid kit for bandages, antiseptic, and antibiotic creams. Tsunayoshi watched her with an angry pout, clearly displeased that she too reacted so casually to his relationship with the prominent Italian criminals. Smiling serenely, Kyoko shuffled on her knees to face him again. 

“Well, I doubt that will get Reborn to lighten up anytime soon,” she chuckled amiably. Tsunayoshi grimaced as he hunched his slim shoulders up to his ears. While he sulked, Kyoko pulled the comforter away from his body. Tsunayoshi squeaked and immediately scrabbled for it, but Kyoko pulled it quickly away from his frantic grasp. 

“K-Kyoko! What are you doing?” 

“Silly!” she snickered and scooched a little closer to him. “I’m going to tend to your wounds! It’s the least I can do after you’ve protected me so many times, right?” 

“Bah… If you say so, Kyoko,” he consented with a bright pink blush blossoming in his cheeks. He splayed out his legs on either side of her so she could shuffle forward on her knees and plant herself right in front of him. She picked up a cotton ball and doused it in antiseptic, then prepared to begin dabbing it on his wounds. 

She could do this. She had to do her best to help Tsunayoshi, in the only way she knew how. 

As she drank in the myriad of scratches and bruises littering his toned body, Kyoko’s eyes grew lidded. There’s so many… Scattered among the fresh injuries were thin white scars, phantoms of arduous training and conflicts past. With a sad smile and even sadder eyes, Kyoko reached out to trace the patchwork of tiny blemishes interspersed between the bleeding cuts and blue-black bruises. 

Tsunayoshi flinched and gasped as her slightly cold fingers met his skin. However, he allowed her to journey across his chest, up his arms, and across his legs. She followed the chronicle of his danger-fraught life until her fingers began to quiver and stutter. There was a seemingly endless amount of lesions disfiguring Tsunayoshi’s person. 

“Kyoko…?” Tsunayoshi asked in a small voice. 

Kyoko hadn’t realized, but tears had sprung to the corners of her eyes. Her fingers faltered over an incredibly long scar slashing across his chest. She wondered, did they sometimes ache, these scars of his? Did he awake in the dead of night in a cold sweat with phantom pain, tendrils of agony blooming from those scars like spider lilies rooted in pale earth? 

The sobering thought sent the tears spilling down her cheeks, which had reddened with misery on Tsunayoshi’s behalf. 

“Tsuna,” she choked. She splayed her fingers over his chest, and they trembled against his wound-littered skin. Slowly, Tsunayoshi reached up to envelop her hand in his, gently pulling it away from his scarred body to tightly wrap his fingers around her shuddering ones. “ Tsuna ,” she repeated in a woeful whine. 

What could she say ? What could she say to make his scars hurt less? Kyoko didn’t know . 

“ Kyoko ,” Tsunayoshi sighed wearily. Still holding her hand aloft and giving it intermittent, reassuring squeezes, he used his other to help push his battered body closer to her. “Please don’t cry, Kyoko. This is why I didn’t want you to see me like this,” he frowned. 

As she hung her head, pitifully wiping at her teary eyes with the heel of her free hand, Tsunayoshi reached up to push a swathe of her caramel-colored hair from her face. 

“Ahhhh,” he whined with a self-deprecating smile on his face. “I’m just no good, am I? Kyoko was kind enough to come and patch me up after Reborn put me through Hell, and now I made her cry. I really am No-Good Tsuna, huh?” 

Kyoko released a little giggle at the playful lilt in his voice. It was just so hard to be depressed with Tsunayoshi smiling so kindly as he held her hand and petted her hair oh-so-softly. As she smiled shakily, Tsunayoshi hummed approvingly. 

“Ah, that’s better. Please don’t cry anymore, okay? I promise they don’t hurt anymore.” 

Kyoko twitched as he all but pinpointed the source of her anxieties like he’d read her mind. She shuffled in between his legs as his hand dropped down to his thigh, while his other continued to hold her hand and rub small circles into her skin with his thumb. Her eyes swept over his form once more, over the wounds, both fresh and faded. 

“They don’t hurt?” she echoed hollowly. 

“Nah,” he reassured her with a lopsided smile. “Sure, Reborn puts me through the wringer and sometimes the hurt for a while, but they heal in time.” He then broke out in a big, cheesy smile. “Because I have your lucky charm, Kyoko, and when that’s not enough, I have the goddess of good luck herself to nurse me back to health, yeah?” 

As soon as the words left his mouth, they both burst into insanely bright head-to-toe bright red blushes. 

“Gah! I-I-I’m sorry!” he stammered, dropping her hand to wave his wildly about. “Th-that was so embarrassing— K-Kyoko, just forget I said that, okay?” 

Though Tsunayoshi’s mind was muddled by panic, Kyoko was as lucid as could be. 

“No,” she refused. Tsunayoshi squawked and then choked on air, freezing as Kyoko stared intensely at him with burning eyes. She firmly grasped his hand again with both of hers, squeezing it tightly. “No,” she repeated, softer. “I’ll do it. Be your goddess of good luck, and be there to nurse you back to health.” 

I don’t have powers like you all do. My only power… is supporting you. 

Tsunayoshi blinked at her. Silence descended over them like a veil, even blocking out the sounds of the street outside, muting the birdsong and car engines and friendly conversation of the neighbors on the porch across the street. Slowly, Tsunayoshi melted into her touch and her reassurance, a sweet smile rising on his face. 

“Kyoko…” 

“Now!” she cried, clapping her hands together. “Let’s get to work!” She retrieved the medical supplies once more, adjusting herself more comfortably before taking the antiseptic-soaked cotton ball and dabbing at a cut. Tsunayoshi hissed as the alcohol-based solution stung the thin slice in his skin. When he pouted at her, she laughed amiably. “What? I said I would nurse you back to health. I didn’t say it would be painless !” 

“Bahhhhh,” Tsunayoshi whined and tilted back his head. He banged his heels against the wooden floor as Kyoko continued to daub antiseptic over his many wounds. “Kyokooooo! Is this payback for getting beat up and making you cry?” 

“Mayyyyybe,” she grinned, pinching the tip of her tongue between her teeth. “You’ll have to suffer more of Reborn’s training so that you get tough enough not to get beat up at all!” 

“ Orrrrrr Reborn can go back to Italy and pick another Vongola 10th!” Tsunayoshi countered hotly. He continued to whine and whimper at Kyoko’s ministrations, even as Reborn strolled casually into the room while nibbling on a bowl of hearty beef stew. 

“Tsuna, you are a disgrace,” the hitman toddler tutted disapprovingly. Tsunayoshi immediately began to sputter indignantly. The refined hitman ignored him and tottered over to a bean bag chair, plopping down and indulging in the delicious beef dish. “You should take your role as a mafioso more seriously. It is unbecoming to complain as much as you do.” 

“I only complain because you give me hell , Reborn!” 

“Yoooo, Tsuna~! Here you are!” 

They both turned as the familiar, good-natured voice of Takeshi Yamamoto floated through the doorway. Both the baseball player and a scowling Hayato hovered in the threshold, each holding two bowls of steaming beef stew. “Your mom told us you were both up here. We brought you some food!” 

“Shame on you, Tsuna, making your mother eat dinner all by herself,” Reborn tsked disapprovingly from his bean bag chair. Tsunayoshi whipped his head around so fast that Kyoko swore she heard his vertebrae crack. 

“Oh, yeah? What are you doing up here, then, Reborn?” 

“Giving you hell.” 

“Ahhhhh! Why did my life turn out this way?” Tsunayoshi howled in lament and flopped backward against his floor. Kyoko had finished applying antiseptic, so she figured she could take a break before slapping bandages on Tsunayoshi’s cuts. She thanked Takeshi as he handed her a bowl and settled in to enjoy Maman’s excellent cooking. 

She paused before starting, drinking in the scene around her. The air hummed with animated, positive energy; laughter and smiles illuminated the room, joining the dying rays of the sunset streaming in through the window. Kyoko smiled, watching warmly as Tsunayoshi bantered with Takeshi, Hayato, and Reborn. 

Tsuna has scars… But he has them so we can have afternoons like this, doesn’t he? He got those scars protecting a future where we can all sit around, joking and eating Maman’s delicious cooking. 

Smiling, she spooned up a bit of the stew and rice and brought it to her lips. 

Tsunayoshi and the others would have to keep fighting for that future. Kyoko couldn’t fight as they could, but she could fight in her own way- with healing hands and comforting smiles and unyielding support. She would fight her own battle so that someday, Tsunayoshi’s scars would all fade away into forgotten memory.

“Yes, you are.” Tsunayoshi deflated like a popped balloon to cast a sordid glare at his home tutor. Reborn had grown significantly in the last several years since the Arcoboleno curse had dissipated, now standing at Tsunayoshi’s waist. The man trapped in a child’s body still dressed way too sharp for his apparent age, donning a neat, pressed suit and his magic chameleon disguised as a hat. He sipped matter-of-factly at his coffee and smirked teasingly at Tsuna. “That paper in your hand doesn’t change the fact that you still have a long way to go- and it was my teachings that earned you that diploma, anyway.”

“Ahhh, Reborn, you’re just as ruthless as ever,” Tsunayoshi grumped and pouted at the diploma. I don’t care what Reborn says! This is an accomplishment, and I’m gonna treat it like one!

“Tsuna, Tsuna!” Takeshi called as he came trotting up, beaming as always, with his father watching with a pleased smile from a distance. “My old man says he’ll treat us to sushi tonight. Everyone is invited!”

“Awesome!”

“I want sushi! I want sushi!” Lambo sprang out from the bushes where he had been presumably playing in the dirt looking for worms, as evidenced by the smears of soil he left on Tsuna’s uniform pants as he pawed at them. Tsunayoshi recoiled with a whine, looking dejectedly at the streaks of brown disfiguring his pants. Lambo skipped over to Takeshi and began running circles around him, bleating about sushi. The afroed boy had undergone a similar growth spurt, only slightly shorter than Reborn, but he had not acquired much in the way of maturity. Takeshi laughed good-naturedly and patted Lambo on the head affectionately. Nothing ever dampens Yamamoto’s spirits, Tsunayoshi thought warmly.

“Hey, little brat, you’re so loud,” Hayato griped as he strolled up with his hands in his pockets, and his diploma tucked in a back one. Scowling, he pushed on the back of Lambo’s head with the sole of his shoe. Though it couldn’t have hurt much, Lambo still took great offense. The little boy plopped down on his behind and began to bawl, screaming about how mean Hayato was to him. “Shut up, you baby! I didn’t hurt you!”

“Gokudera! Stop tormenting my dear sweet Lambo!” Tsunayoshi narrowed his eyes at the familiar but very out-of-place voice. Haru came running into the schoolyard to scoop Lambo up and press him into her bosom. Lambo cooed and snuggled into her breasts, clearly with lascivious intent, but Haru nuzzled his fuzzy head endearingly.

“What are you even doing here?!” the bomb expert griped. She shot him a seditious pout and a stony glare.

“I came to see Tsuna graduate, of course! Our school just finished, so I rushed over here. And what do I find? Gokudera is as much a villain as always!”

“Oh, can it, stalker!”

“I am not a stalker! I am a lady in love!”

Tsunayoshi abandoned the duo to their quibbling and pushed himself onto his tip-toes, head craned back to scan the many craniums of the students mingling in the courtyard. He did not find who he was looking for, but close enough. He could hear Ryohei screaming about the usual nonsense from a mile away. Wherever Ryohei is, Kyoko must be! he thought and pushed into the crowd.

Tsunayoshi was still small compared to his peers, so squeezing through the many chattering students was a chore. He followed Ryohei’s crowing and howling laughter towards the center of the mass of people. With a grunt, he pushed through two very stocky football players before stumbling out into a circle of green grass. Tsking, he smoothed out the creases in his shirt and pants and fixed his fluffy bangs, then inhaled deeply and straightened his back. He fingered the box-shaped lump in his front pocket nervously, eyeing the beautiful young girl chatting amiably with her overzealous boxer brother.

All right, Tsuna! It’s now or never!

“Kill him! Kill the Vongola Tenth!”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Tsunayoshi screeched in anger and tore at his orangey-caramel hair in frustration. As machine-gun fire ripped across the yard, the new graduates erupted into confused screams and scattered like marbles. Thankfully, whoever was attacking only meant to entice the Vongola family into retaliating, so the fire harmlessly rained down into the grass and concrete. Ryohei shoved Kyoko behind him and threw up his fists, while Tsunayoshi begrudgingly trotted over to stand beside him.

“What cowards! Show your faces and fight like a man!” Ryohei yowled and shook his bandage-wrapped fists.

“Can they not?” Tsunayoshi replied with a groan. “Can they just go home?” The yard had thinned in a matter of seconds; all the crowd had spilled out into the streets and run for cover, leaving just the mafia family behind. Takeshi had drawn his katana and Hayato his bombs. Kyoya (who had been lounging around the school though he had graduated before them) was standing across the yard with his tonfa, frowning. Chrome, brandishing her trident, scampered up with Haru clinging to the hem of her shirt. Lambo was sitting in a puddle of his tears, and Reborn was nonchalantly sipping the last dregs of his coffee.

“Reborn! Do you have any idea who these thugs are?” The Vongola Tenth asked his tutor. Reborn pretended not to hear him. “You little-! Gaaaaaah, let’s just get this over with,” Tsunayoshi huffed and activated his Dying Will Flame, alighting his forehead with the orange glow and materializing his gloves on his hands. “Come out!”

“Yeah, so I can blow you all to Hell!” Hayato sneered. Dozens of armed men in black suits appeared on the rooftops, with a man in a mink overcoat at their head.

“My name is- Hey, what the fu-?” Tsunayoshi didn’t give the mafia leader a chance to introduce himself, instead opting to blast his way up to the roof and drop-kick him in the face. As their leader slid across the tiled roof with an imprint of Tsunayoshi’s shoe across his forehead, the underlings could only gawk at Tsunayoshi’s malice and prowess. Tsunayoshi, his expression blank, flexed his fingers.

“One day. Can’t I have one day without some goons crashing in and threatening my life and the lives of my friends? Seriously, did it have to be graduation day?” Tsunayoshi griped as he advanced on the man, who was now crawling away on his hands and knees blubbering. The men around Tsunayoshi howled angrily and trained their weapons on him, but before any of them could fire a single shot, his Guardians jumped into the fray. Within seconds, the attackers’ formation crumbled into chaos. Tsunayoshi ignored the mania to stride over to the leader.

“Have mercy!” the leader pleaded as he pressed back against the roof’s wall, shaking like a leaf and staring fearfully at Tsunayoshi. Using Leon in the form of a mini-helicopter, Reborn perched himself atop the fence and tutted at the poor excuse of a man.

“How shameful. Did you really think you could take on the Vongola Tenth with such a small force and such little resolve? This is an insult.”

Tsunayoshi smothered his Dying Will flame and pouted up at his tutor.

“Rebornnnnn, please don’t tell me this was some kind of training exercise or scheme…”

“Of course not. Even I am kind enough to allow you to enjoy your graduation day.”

“Y-you asshole! How dare you patronize me!” the mafia boss screamed and lunged at Tsunayoshi. A knife glinted in the sunlight, shooting towards Tsunayoshi’s throat, but his hyper-intuition made dodging it an easy task. The young Vongola Tenth side-stepped the attack, leaving the manic man stumbling across the roof. Takeshi dispatched him with a neck-chop to his pressure point, and he crumpled like a doll.

“That was no fun. I wanted a challenge,” the swordsman whined and sheathed his katana.

“I would rather not have to deal with stuff like this at all! One day! Just one! That’s all I want!” Tsunayoshi argued. Takeshi just laughed animatedly, like he always did, squinting his eyes happily. When he stopped, he glanced down at the ground with a confused grunt.

“Oh? Tsuna, what’s that?”

Tsunayoshi knew exactly was Takeshi was referring to and released a high-pitched screech, but before he could retrieve the precious object, Lambo scampered over and swiped it.

“No! Lambo! Give it back!” he wailed and chased the afroed, horned child across the roof. Lambo screamed elatedly, pleased with the chase, and opened the box as he ran in circles with Tsunayoshi in hot pursuit.

“A ring! It’s a ring!” Everyone froze, including the girls, who had just mounted the steps.

“Ahhhhhh! Tsuna is finally going to make Haru his mafia wife!” Haru trilled and clasped her hands beside her cheek. Clenching his teeth, Tsunayoshi shot her an incredulous look before lunging for Lambo, who had stopped running in his bewilderment of everyone’s reactions. He yelped as Tsunayoshi snatched the ring box and hid it behind his back.

“Lambo’s lying! It’s not a ring!”

“Uh, yeah it is, Sawada,” Kyoya blinked disinterestedly. Tsunayoshi growled at him, infuriated that he was no help to his cause; it was just par for the course, because since when did Kyoya care about anything but his naps and the middle school?

“Who’s it for? Who’s it for, Tsuna?” Ryohei grinned and bolted over to shake him. Tsunayoshi released startled gasps as his brain rattled in his skull along with all his other bones under the boxer’s relentless jarring.

“Gah! Ah! For the love of-! Kyoko! It’s for Kyoko!” he choked out. Ryohei ceased shaking him to gawk stupidly at him. Tsunayoshi went pink from the base of his neck to the top of his forehead. He shouldered away from his Sun Guardian, fidgeting with the box incessantly. Kyoko gawked wide-eyed at him from across the roof, mouth agape. Ugh! I had wanted to do this in private, but since when does anything in my life go as planned? he lamented. He cleared his throat before striding over to the girl, trying to seem dignified. It was a meaningless effort, because his knees buckled as soon as he reached her. “K-kyoko,” he stammered, then swallowed thickly, hating how quivery his voice was. He tried again, opening the box as he did so to reveal a silver band with a tiny pink opal in the center.

“K-Kyoko, this isn’t how I wanted this to go, but…. I’ve loved you for a long time. You were the motivation to get me through the hardest parts of my life. This is a promise ring,” he explained with a glance down at the jewelry. “M-my life is really dangerous now, with the mafia and all, and because of that, I’ve put your life in danger far too many times… B-but, with this ring, I promise to protect you, always, a-a-and love you w-with everything I h-h-have…” His voice grew high-pitched and trembly at the end, making his blush redden to a tomato color. With shaking lips and shaking hands, he extended the ring to her. “P-please be my girlfriend, Kyoko!”

“Nice delivery,” Hayato muttered sarcastically, which made him hunch his shoulders up to his ears. He heard Hayato yelp as his sister slapped him upside the head. Still, he kept his eyes firmly locked on Kyoko’s face, watching as she studied the ring curiously. His breath halted as she reached out with slim fingers to pull the ring from the box and admire it in the sunlight. The little pink opal sparkled beautifully, but not nearly as wonderfully as her eyes, Tsunayoshi thought. His heart somersaulted in his ribcage as she smiled broadly and slipped the ring onto her right ring finger.

“I accept.”

“Yes!” Tsunayoshi howled and threw his hands in the air triumphantly. “Kyoko said she’ll go out with me! This is the best day of my life!”

“Sawada!” Tsunayoshi cringed and hid behind Kyoko as Ryohei barked his name. He hunched down to peer above Kyoko’s tiny shoulder, watching fearfully as her elder brother stomped across the roof to cross his arms and glowered down at him.

“R-ryohei, I can explain…”

“No. I’ve heard enough,” he grunted with a stern expression. Tsunayoshi whined and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for one of the boxer’s devastating punches. Instead, he felt a hand ruffling his fluffy hair. He cracked an eye open to see Ryohei grinning and even crying a little. “This is so exciting! I know you will take care of my sweet little sister.”

“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, big brother. You’re the one who needs taking care of, getting beat up all the time!”

“Heyyy, Kyoko, that was so mean…”

“So are Tsuna and Kyoko getting married?” Lambo asked Chrome while sucking on his index finger.

“No, no, they are just dating,” the illusionist responded. “I think…”

“Hey! This is just one more thing to celebrate over sushi!” Takeshi laughed good-naturedly.

“I’m leaving,” Kyoya snorted and whirled on his heel to begin striding for the stairs. He bristled when Takeshi clapped a hand on his shoulder and turned him around.

“Come on, Hibari, don’t be such a stick in the mud! Surely you like sushi? My father makes the best.” Kyoya glowered before clicking his tongue thoughtfully.

“Do you have tuna sashimi?”

“Of course.”

“Fine. But I’m going for the sashimi, not because we’re friends.”

“Sure, sure.”

Tsunayoshi watched fondly as his friends rejoiced on the rooftop, smiling alighting their faces like beacons as always. As Ryohei scampered over to throw his arms around a laughing Takeshi’s shoulders, Kyoko looked at him with a sweet smile, making Tsunayoshi’s heart stop in his chest.

“You’ll keep your promise, won’t you, Tsuna?” He blinked, then smiled lovingly at the girl he had adored for the longest time.

“Of course, Kyoko. I’ll protect you with my life. I swear it.” His eyes snapped wide open when she leaned in to press a small kiss to his cheek, leaving bright pink heat in her wake.

“Good- but don’t be in a hurry to throw your life away. I’d miss you so much, Tsuna.” Smiling charmingly, she skipped over to Haru and Chrome, wherein they cooed over the pretty pink-gemmed ring. Tsunayoshi slowly raised a hand to his cheek, a smile slowly spreading over his face.

“I’m proud of you, Tsuna,” Reborn remarked and patted the back of his thigh. “I never thought you’d do it, really.”  

“It’s all thanks to you, Reborn. You gave me courage.”

“No,” the mafioso retorted with a sly smirk. “You always had the courage. I just taught you how to find it.” Tsunayoshi nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. You sure did, Reborn.”

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!