Chapter Text
Ieyoshi Sawada had always been sheltered by his older twin brother, as Ie recounted for as long as he could remember.
Being the more vulnerable sibling, Tsunayoshi Sawada had taken it as his utmost important duty, aside from staying happy and keep on learning, given by their mother when Ie was heavily bedridden once during their childhood because of a short common cold. Whenever there was something (no matter how small or insignificant it was) that could threaten his younger twin's well-being, Tsuna would immediately stood protectively in front of him as a shield to it or dragged him away from any immediate danger, even if it was only to his perspective.
As much as Ie loved his twin brother and his weird little quirks, even he had enough of it when Ie had accidentally brought a small suit-wearing child into their household one afternoon because he thought he was lost. The child then suddenly took out a gun and told them he was the world's greatest hitman, hired to train Ie as the next Vongola mafia boss.
(Something about him having a stronger will to survive death after all these years with that body of his or what not, the baby reasoned.
Whatever that meant anyway.)
Tsuna had… understandably went to a hissing fit and demanded to see his boss to file a complaint.
The baby however merely pointed his gun straight to Ie's forehead, alarming both teens to either take a protective stance (Tsuna) or make wary eyes for their mother who was in the next room (Ie).
"I told you he was bad news, you know my gut is always 99% right, but nooo of course you want to help the kid to look for his parents and just had to bring him home too!" Ie balked as Tsuna kept ranting in front of him, his back covering him from the child's aim.
"How should I know he was some kind of crazy kid with guns!?" The younger Sawada chafed, "also, that 'gut' of yours is just a glorified made-up 'Ie's threat detector' and they don't even work well 99% of the time!"
"Also, also, the kid wants me, just grab Kaa-san and get out of here—I'll be fine!"
Ie could feel his older twin's shoulders twitch as he snapped his head to the back, his eyes narrow and dark looking toward his own set of identical brown eyes.
"Say that again, and I will haul you to your room and barricade it with Kaa-san's bubble wraps after this, Ie."
"Ha! That's rich coming from you!" If he was the self-sacrificial one, then Tsuna was basically the definition of self-sacrifice and he had years of evidence to back up his claims even if the older Sawada tried to deny it.
Whatever retort his older twin was going to say to him, it was instantly swallowed when the sort-of forgotten child triggered a warning shot just five centimeters away from Tsuna's left ear, now perfectly nested in the walls of their house, with a dark look on his face.
"Shut up, both of you, or else the next one is going straight to his skull," the fedora-wearing baby warned, "and believe me when I say I'm the greatest hitman in the world—I never miss my target."
That successfully shut them up as their mother suddenly poked her head from the dining room, eyes filled with worry. "Are you three alright? I heard some loud noises earlier…"
As if he was just an innocent bystander, the child replied to her with a chirpy voice, his gun already gone from their sight (how!?). "Oh it's just Tsuna squishing a bug that almost bit Ie, Mamma, nothing to worry about."
Their mother immediately gushed to Tsuna, how proud she was with her eldest son, then returned back to the kitchen to finish making the forgotten coffee the child had asked earlier on his arrival. Awkward silence engulfed the three figures in the hallway, until the fedora-wearing toddler broke the tension and hopped upstairs. The two twins merely exchanged hesitated glances before following the self-proclaimed greatest hitman to Ie's room, who was already sitting comfortably in his bed like the child wasn't just a stranger that they had just met a few minutes ago.
(Knowing what he was capable of from the previous instances and his earlier claims, there was a high probability that the baby had done his work shadowing them before approaching their family today.)
"Do I have a say in this…?" Ie slowly raised his hands after the two twins had calmed themselves from the absurdity they had just witnessed earlier and when the toddler had finished explaining (somewhat) the Vongola Family history, their lineage of succession, the recent deaths of the previous legitimate heirs (were there any illegitimate heirs Ie wondered), and eventually how his family got involved with the Mafia Family and the conclusion to why he got dibs on being the newest heir (so his great-great-great(?) grandfather was the founder and first boss of that Vongola Family, then got retired to Japan and changed his name to "Ieyasu Sawada," while the Mafia Family back in Italy continued on with their merry mafia-way and was now on its ninth generation of bosses, okay cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool).
Surely he had some say to this whole "Vongola Family Inheritance" debacle, right?
"No."
…apparently he did not.
(Well, it was a nice try to counteract it anyway.)
"What about me?" Tsuna asked instead without missing a beat, his eyes narrowed in threat to the child sitting in front of him, challenging him if he ever tried to refute his question.
"If you want to claim the title for yourself, I could put a word to Vongola Nono and have you go through the inheritance instead of your younger brother." The baby shrugged, not particularly caring the finer details of how his job was completed, it seemed.
"Then I'll claim that Vongola Decimo title from Ie, right now—as the oldest son of the Sawada family, I believe it's already a right that I should have been given from the very start."
Ie almost did a double take at his older twin's words and instead gaped, stupefied by the sudden 180 from his earlier reaction.
(But was also still pretty in character of him based on his brother's "overprotectiveness," now that he thought about it again…)
"Very well, I will inform Vongola Nono right now, if you two excuse me."
As that bit of exchange wasn't enough to tip the younger Sawada off his balance, a posse of beetles suddenly latched onto the child's face after he had opened Ie's window. Not even bothered by the beetles, now stuck on his face, the baby began to chat with them, like it was a common occurrence to him.
(Which, in hindsight, it probably was, but honestly his brain was still overloaded from the previous absurdity and now added with this?)
"I can't take this anymore!" Standing up, Ie gave both his older twin and the fedora-wearing toddler accusing pointed fingers, his face red from frustration. "First of all, just because you got out twenty minutes early, Tsuna-nii, doesn't mean I'm always a freaking child to you—I'm also thirteen for goodness sake! I can perfectly make mature decisions, be held accountable for my actions, and also I'm not that sickly from years ago, dangit!"
"Second, if I'm the one who got picked as the heir of this 'Mafia Family' crap, why do you have to sacrifice yourself for me?! Just live a life free from criminal activities and all that shit—I can do it by myself and I don't need your overzealous protectiveness all the time, alright!"
After he was done spouting his frustrations to Tsuna, who was silent with his head hung low, Ie turned his head toward the still-beetle-talking child on the windowsill.
"And you!" He growled, "I know we Sawada's aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, but would it kill you ask our Tou-san—oh don't you dare say he's not involved in anyway with this—he once sent a postcard from the freaking North Pole! How was that not scream absurd in his eyes!?—to drop a freaking note first before dropping a freaking bombshell on a Monday afternoon!?"
As he was about to shake the figurative-life out of the toddler (damn all Hell if he got murdered by the little troll for even just putting a hand on him), Ie felt a tug on his wrist from his older sibling's hand. Tsuna still had his head hung low and his shoulders slumped while his grip, although still tight, was actually looser from what he had felt before in any similar situation.
The youngest Sawada's shoulders eventually loosened as well after he had realized how over-the-top his reactions were and lowered his gaze to the floor, sighing.
"Sorry… I was just… tired from… everything…" he started, his voice soft, "I know you have the best intentions for my well-being, Tsuna-nii, but not all well-meaning intentions are good intentions…" then ended with a slight smile tugging the corner of his lips.
Ie had expected Tsuna to immediately retort his claims, but instead still had his head hung low and was apparently… mumbling under his breath…?
"Tsuna-nii…?"
In a snap, the older brunet had latched his hands onto his shoulders, shaking the lights out of his eyes. "—ho told you to swear!? It was Mochida-senpai huh—I knew hanging around those kendo club junkies was having bad influences on you…"
"Oh Hell—THAT'S WHAT GOT YOU RILED UP!? WE'RE THIRTEEN, IT'S FRIGGIN' NORMAL TO SWEAR DANGIT!"
"THAT DOESN'T EXCUSE BAD INFLUENCES ON YOUR IMPRESSIONABLE MIND, IE!"
"I DO NOT HAVE AN IMPRESSIONABLE MIND!" Ie snapped, now shaking back his brother's hands away from his shoulders and took a sloppy stance of one of the characters from their favorite console fighting games, "YOU WANNA FIGHT, I'LL GIVE YOU A FIGHT!"
"OH IT IS OOOOON!" In a heartbeat, Tsuna had taken a perfect boxer stance like one of the Sasagawa siblings in their neighborhood.
For a brief moment, they had locked gazes with narrowed eyes. Their shoulders twitched every now and then in anticipation for the upcoming brawl, licking his lips, the younger twin did almost want to take back his words, but instead had motioned his hand to his brother to come.
And so they fought.
With Tsuna as the winner, unsurprisingly.
(In retrospect, his older twin did trained along with the older Sasagawa in the art of boxing since he was five, while Ie had only started practicing kendo earlier this school semester, so it was a definite win for Tsuna honestly.
Also, they should have had fought in Tsuna's room instead of his own, at least that would give him some sense of victory from his older brother.)
"So, I take it, this was the formal way to take the Vongola Decimo title from Ie?"
The older Sawada, still pinning his younger brother to the ground (who was also calling a timeout, Tsuna-nii!), grinned at the now-beetleless baby looking rather amused at their antics.
"And I also take it you won't drag Ie to any of this Vongola shenanigans, as well?" The toddler merely shrugged again.
"You'll have my word, although I can't say the same thing applied if anyone else tried to do something similar."
"Fair enough." He huffed, stretching a free hand for a handshake to his now-tutor. "Not-so pleased to meet you, Home-tutor Reborn."
"Likewise, My-New-Vic-Student Tsuna." Reborn shook his now-student's hand.
"Okay, so I'm all in with Tsuna-nii being the new Vongola Decimo-guy and all now, but I'm still stuck in Tsuna-nii's headlock—guys! Guys! Don't ignore me dangit! Oh I can swear whenever the heck I want—ow Tsuna-nii!"
END