#Sure he had Yamamoto and whatever in canon but this is different

[imarson404]

I love how they gave Light a friend group in the jdrama. Like a whole 3 good friends who he hangs out with in class and on his days off. And he seems pretty close with them, especially Kamoda who he FIRST USES THE DEATH NOTE FOR. (Even though he thought it was fake), he had almost no hesitation writing down the name of the bully who had threatened Kamoda, and the thing that it seemed tipped him over the edge from ‘oh well, hes a shitty guy’ to murder was Kamoda begging someone to do something. As we see with soichiro, light went down that path to save people first and foremost, and lost himself along the way. I wonder how his friends felt when he vanished and never came back. I wonder if they mourned him.

[gallusrostromegalus]

AEIWAM question:

The Soul Society has the ability to interact with the human world physically, and wildly more firepower than pre-dead people have. Is there a particular reason the world of the dead hasn't pulled a colonialism or other form of resource extraction on the world of the living? Is there a reason the warlords on the fringes of the rukongai don't set up in the world of the living instead of the spirit world's most marginal land?

Why haven't the dead colonized the living? The dead have not pulled a colonialism on the living world because (and IIRC this is canon but it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment) while Shinigami, Arrancar and other dead spirits CAN go hang out in the living world for brief periods of time, if forced to STAY in the living world, their superpowers rapidly degrade because the ambient spiritual energy in the living world is so low. That's why Rukia wasn't *immediately* suspicious when her powers weren't coming back after activating Ichigo's, and why the shinigami that visit Ichigo's school during the aarancar arc don't stay after the battle- they can't heal effectively. There's also the whole "Balance the total number of Souls between the living and spirit worlds" thing. I'm not sure what the dead having permanent residency in the world of the living would do to that balance, but it's probably Not Great.

Why aren't there fringe district warlords or other countries? Great news! THERE ARE. They're just not human. Hueco Mundo used to be the bulk of the West 80th disctrict, but then it got lightly dimension'd off by the noble houses after they stole the Soul King's bodyparts, and the partition between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society is made of the Soul King's toes. Heck, it's even got a capital city- Las Noches! Las Noches used to be drastically more populated before Barragan took over and murdered the shit out of everyone he could find, because there's a BIG difference between not being able to let go of the living world and actually resorting to cannibalism, and I think there used to be a TON of hollows like Dondochaka and Pesche who just subsist off the ambient Reishi and do whatever instead of eating people. The Eastern 80th district is the land of the Beastfolk- Spirits like kitsune and tanuki, the ghosts of ancient and venerated trees, the sort of thing that appear in Mononoke/Mushishi/Princess Mononoke etc. and the wolves that Komamura is descended from. They're not as organized as the hollows so they didn't get ghetto'd like Hueco Mundo, but neither is the Soul Society able to tangle with them,. See, the entire Court Guard System and Central 46 was founded SPECIFICALLY to end and prevent the warring clans that had dominated Soul Society for so long. So the Central 46 and yamamoto are very much erring on "Don't let any extant clan or district or whatever political org gain too much power, and for the love of god, don't start a war", so the East is heavily protected by the sanctions that keep any clan from raising an army to invade another clan (much smaller than what would be needed to invade the east), the fact that the gotei-13 recruits very nearly all spiritually powerful people away from joining that kind of force, and Yamamoto's personal connection to Komamura's wolf clan (Major spoilers for the fic but the upshot is that he will NEVER tresspass on Wolf land, and the shinigami are also forbidden from doing so) The North is uncolonized for roughly the same reason antartica is uncolonized- most of it is straight-up inhospitable to human life, or all but a handful of beasfolk and hollows. In fact, the only thing that "Lives" up there are Kami- Serious Kami, like The Firebird and other personifications of Major natural disasters or philosophical concepts. The ONLY reason to go to North 80 is if you want to pick a fight with a God, and why would you do THAT when one of them just moved into the court guards? (That isn't quite true, actually- there are quite a few humans living on the southern edge of the Zaraki District- but they live in isolated villages that change locations every few decades and don't appear in Soul Society census data. They don't pay taxes, but neither do they demand services. The court guard is aware of the tribes living up north, but so long as they don't start shit, the gotei-13 is willing to ignore them.) The South 80th district is... well, it's 95% ocean, for starters, and many of the lovely tropical islands in there are active volcanoes and/or hellmouths. There's quite a few humans living in South 80, but the overall population is even smaller than the tribes in North 80, and many of the islands are "Uninhabited". I use quotes because those volcanoes are the result of Hell cracking under the strain of not being able to pass souls through it fast enough, and making incursions into other dimensions. The Demons that live on the spirit world side of these cracks have no beef with soul society- if anything, they're very pleased with it!, but they're busy trying to prevent a dimensional collapse or mass prison break, and tend to chase off any curious humans, so the closest thing to a "real" government is the Dimensional Crack Stabilization Project Manager, and the Law of Hell is mostly OSHA.

Thank you, that was a very helpful question!

[queenharumiura]

Complete crack but Mage got me into it, 5996.

[My KHR ship game] ||Accepting|| @whiskeysmulti Reminder: This is me just talking in general, so in no way is RP portrayals or anything being considered her. All Neo in her head. Characterizations are based off what I think would be interesting set up for the ship.

Hate it | Am Neutral to it | Ship it | love it! |

Readmore time

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Phew… well… I mean… you and I talk about a lot of stuff so you already know my stance on how I think Mukuro and Chrome are just a unit. A duo, are supposed to be together. So anything that breaks them up is kinda SQUINT to me. Still, the dynamic of 5996 sounds fun to me, lolol so I mean… yeah… I suppose I could ship it lololol. (So much for they are a duo, and they are supposed to be for each other amirite?)

We’ve seen the way that both Gokudera and Chrome have developed as characters throughout the series. He certainly becomes a bit more patient (in regards to the violence) and he is able to open up to more people. He can accept more people into his life and be ready to do what he can for them. He’s a very loyal kind of character who inwardly feels a lot of things, complex emotions but may not be very aware of what the complex emotions mean.

Emotional intelligence a lil slow with him. Chrome has more emotional intelligence I’d say but it is also a bit… flawed in a sense? I think in due time it will heal and be better because it does seem that she’s a bit more wary about people, especially if they extend goodness towards her. Likely due to her experiences in her ‘past life’ meaning her life as Nagi.

The ways in which I think that they can work well together largely stems from the fact of their pasts. Both have some hurtful history when it comes to parents. Gokudera feels his father had his mother killed and he lost his mother on the day of his birthday. Chrome… as we know… was basically being abandoned by her parents if you really think about it. How the mother refused to ‘cut herself for the sake of that child’. Both have the pains of their parents, and this is pretty different from a whole lot of the Vongola crew. Tsuna has a wonderful mother who loves him (yes I’m ignoring Iemitsu, but we know he cares too). Haru has a doting father canonically. We can assume she has a loving mother as well. Yamamoto has a good dad, no idea on mother. The Sasagawas surely have a good relationship with their parents. Lambo basically has Nana now.

These two have pains from their pasts with parents that could possibly let them feel a bit out of place when with the others. It is a bit different when you talk to people who had such a vastly different upbringing than you did from what I personally noticed. Sometimes it can make you feel out of place and it could feel harder to relate. They both may be able to feel more in tune with each other in such circumstances. Like if they ever take a step back because they don’t really know how to act in situations of say… parent teacher conferences, or the days where parents can come in to watch how their children are at school. Both of them may feel out of place there even though Gokudera has Bianchi. I’m not sure if Chrome would have someone stand in. Maybe someone from Kokuyo--?

Anyways I think they could bond in such situations because they get it. They understand how it is. Chrome is a polite girl, reserved, and isn’t too nosey. Her personality isn’t too strong. It does work kind of nicely in the sense that they wouldn’t really have issues of altercations and fights because of having two strong personalities. What I do think is nice is that because of their differences in personalities and vibes, that they could rub off on one another. Gokudera can learn to be more calm and patient. Learn a bit more of her passive kind of attitude, and she can learn how to be more assertive. To be more dominant, and to be more defensive when it comes to herself. Don’t just take whatever nonsense people say to you (looking at you MM).

They could be a good influence on each other. I can see as the right hand, Gokudera would want to look out for all the guardians, and with his general distrust in Mukuro, he would look after her. If he for any reason thinks that Chrome isn’t being treated well, he’d watch out for her. He is a bit awkward about things but he’s also pretty logical and efficient. I could see him dropping hints to the girls so they could check up on Chrome if he worried. If the situation was something that he thought he could deal with, he would step in himself, but more the more emotional affairs, he’d leave that to the girls. He’s considerate in that logical way.

The main source of contention, I suppose, would be Mukuro. He and Chrome are a unit and she does ally herself to him. The biggest character development for her is wanting to stand on her own and be able to stand side by side with Mukuro. To be a warrior alongside him. With that kind of a set up, it is a bit more difficult to have the room to accept someone else into that equation, especially someone who doesn’t quite trust the person you’ve tied yourself to. Makes it a bit more complex.

However, we do know that Gokudera is a pretty stubborn guy, so it is possible that he was worried about Chrome and as the right hand, made it a point to check in on her often. This results in him spending more time with them and he gets to understand Mukuro better and maybe come to terms with the idea that he can sorta trust the guy, and be more or less okay with him due to Chrome’s positive influence of her wanting for everyone to get along. I see her trying her best so that both sides can come together and accept each other. Help Gokudera see that Mukuro isn’t so bad, if you take his entirety into account.

One day that it may work is that though they are a unit and they work great together, Mukuro doesn’t see Chrome as anything past a sister or another extension of himself. IF he were to regard Chrome as such, then I could see there being room for Chrome and Gokudera being able to be a couple, since then it opens her up to seeing people so as long as Mukuro gives the okay. He would care for having someone who can protect Chrome and be there to take care of her. Someone who would be able to understand her pains and be patient enough to work with her through them.

Gokudera has a very protective aspect to his personality so he could protect her fine. He isn’t one to see anyone as lesser because they aren’t skilled, are sickly, are less charismatic, etc. He sees people for who they are and that’s it. That is a great quality to have for a person who may struggle to see their own worth as themselves. It is good for someone who has insecurity issues. It’s good for someone who may doubt themselves, etc. I’d suppose a good way to look at it is that Gokudera doesn’t have expectations for people, he just looks at them for what they are. It’s a lot harder to do than most would think.

You may look at someone and have expectations without realizing it. Like you may think that they may do such and such for you, or that you may want to enjoy writing out certain scenarios with someone and that you hope that they’d be excited about it just as much as you are. You may hope that they’ll like the same ships that you do for example. People just have expectations and hopes for people. Gokudera doesn’t really do that and he looks at people for who they are and what they’ve shown themselves to be.

Tsuna is a bit of a curve ball because Gokudera does seem to have expectations for him based off how he acts, but it’s really based off the feats that Tsuna has done when in dying will mode. He knows and has seen Tsuna do great things. A lot of what he says and boasts Tsuna for aren’t exactly incorrect because Dying will mode Tsuna IS a part of who he is. So yeah, Gokudera is one who sees people for who they are. So he won’t get disappointed or anything if they turn out differently than he thought or came off as weak.

He's a great source of support in that way because you can count on him to just like you for you. He observes and gets to know who people are based on their actions.

His temper sure is a thing, but I think Mukuro could forgive that lol. I think if it came to that kind of a situation, Mukuro would be okay with entrusting Chrome with him when Mukuro wasn’t around to watch over her. I think it’s a good dynamic of two people who could become comfortable with each other, console in each other about their experiences and both try to go down a path of healing. Just journey on the path of healing together and support the other when possible. It’s kinda sweet.

I suppose for some cute ideas/scenarios… hm… like Gokudera letting it go if someone is talking shit about him because it’s not worth his time and energy and Chrome going nope, I’m going to talk to them. Asserting herself because she doesn’t want anyone talking badly about him and she’s not backing down from it. Like lil Chrome putting her foot down to really assert herself for his sake. I feel like that would be a oh, this feels nice, to have someone care this much for me and it comes from someone who normally has a bit more of a passive side. Ahhhh… yes… good food.

AS THE CERTIFIED MUKURO DISDAINER THAT I AM- jk, but imagine a spat between Gokudera and Mukuro and Chrome actually takes Gokudera’s side for once. Mukuro feeling like a brother who got betrayed by his sis, and Gokudera feeling like oh- OH! She took my side, in your FACE, Mukuro! But there’s always that side too where he feels touched that she was willing to take his side against Mukuro because she does value his opinion and his stance on things. It isn’t just her devoted loyalty to Mukuro that makes up who she is. There’s more to her than that. I just find it simple but cute. Mhm mhm. I like small things like that. Sue me.

I… like the idea that Uri is very hissy towards most people and other animals, but she starts to notice that Chrome starts having more of Gokudera’s scent because they spend a lot of time together and so she curiously just walks right up to the girl to sniff her and then gets taken in by her calm and sweet aura. We know Chrome likes cats so it’s like oho, I like this one! She’s very nice! Just curl up to Chrome and hiss at Gokudera. Just rub up against Chrome a lot. If the owl comes around, sucks to SUCK! YOU GO AWAY! You can have Gokudera (for now). So you have Uri just bonding with Chrome and Gokudera and Fukurou having no other choice but to bond together over them losing to Uri. (ehehehehe) Then they just get used to that too and the day Uri notices why is that owl and my master getting along well? He has treats for it too? NOT ON MY PAW!!!! THAT’S MY SPOT! Kekek. Willful Uri. BEST

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I did my best. Again, this is in no way associated to RP and what portrayals I see on dash. This is just a thought exercise based off how I think things could work.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Do you ever stop and think "Mayuri has a (singular) really really long nail"?

lmao half this post was written before that Szayel ask and half was written after, so apologies is there’s any repetition or disjuncture across the two!!!

I'll be honest, anon, I often forget this detail! In the same way that I often forget that I have a giant full-color picture of Sunflower Mayuri set as one of my other desktop images, right up until I hit a rogue keyboard shortcut and am suddenly transported into his midst:

He's been lurking there for a full year and I am always taken by complete surprise.

I was actually poking around these chapters the other day, and I think what honestly I DO stop and think about is Mayuri's moral compass? Like, the fact that it exists. And I don't mean this in a "he acts like a sick freak but secretly he really cares" kind of way, or even a "he revels in his being a sick freak and doesn't realize he cares until he does" kind of way. The definition of "moral compass" here is absolutely a Mayuri Original Definition. He's totally invested in his various experiments to satiate his own personal agendas, but he actually does more "for the sake of Soul Society" than possibly anyone else, and... does a pretty good job of it? I imagine Soul Society would be less inclined to handwave whatever other shit he's got going on if he weren't, but my point is a weird amount of his time is honestly spent on things that benefit others, offer protection, etc. And again: Mayuri. Not a secret cinnamon roll. But he also can't be flatly read.

He's one of the few captains who seems willing to go toe-to-toe with Yamamoto about some of Yamamoto's leadership decisions--notably because he thought Yamamoto's Quincy genocide wasn't genocidal enough, er, but he also later insinuates that he disagrees with Yamamoto's conception of honor/patriotism--that the Gotei 13 serve 'til death, and that if you can't, then you should kill yourself. (Makes sense, given that Urahara drags him out of the Den of Maggots, so Mayuri's seen the fruits of this particular domestic policy first-hand.) He and Yamamoto are both dudes with often shitty opinions, but I think it makes them both more interesting that they are different shitty opinions.

I don't think his disagreement on that count is purely out of self-preservation/valuing self over others, either. Weirdly enough, I think he actually likes Soul Society and its observable phenomena (e.g. his colleagues), as long as it's not touching or interfering with whatever else he's got going on. He probably could have just killed dead Kensei/dead Rose/Matsumoto (and Hitsugaya, too), and that would have been a lot easier, but he went through the trouble of incapacitating/podding them. I mean, the man reads the SC cover to cover for fun. Sure, that's data, but let's be real--70% of those articles have got to be pure drivel.

And also like--I find Mayuri's fight with zombie!Hitsugaya extremely upsetting. I do not enjoy it at all. It feels horrible. But Mayuri doesn't even seem to enjoy it either? In the lead-up to it, he makes like three separate references to his own kind heart that are definitely not to be taken at face value, and talks a lot about the thrill of victims writhing against you, and how pleased he is to be able to test a bunch of new drugs on Hitsugaya, but then you get this face:

And it's not like he particularly likes Hitsugaya. (In fact, for reasons unknown, in the Bount arc Mayuri very specifically singles Hitsugaya out to be someone he Does Not Like! I imagine that as the Gotei 13 interacts with each other more often post-ryoka/Aizen, Hitsugaya is just more annoying to him. "Yes, we re-grew Hinamori's organs. Of course we did a good job! Get out of here, stop helicopter-captaining, ffs go micromanage your own division--")

I'm not saying that face is indicative of compassion. But he's not having all the fun he said he was going to.

I enjoy that a character like Mayuri can be humanized--here meaning “made complex” I guess--without that act suggesting that it should be attended with an assumption of goodness, or mercy, or redemption.

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@ippoddity here, jumping onto this post~

I too, have Sunflower Mayuri as my desktop background (but my desktop is much more cluttered than @whipplefilter’s, so I won’t be showing a picture of it).

I didn’t really give much thought to Mayuri’s long fingernail either, except to think “Boy, that���s kind weird, but this guy’s whole vibe is creepy so it fits.” But then you got me to thinking about it more, and I started doing some digging. My first thought was “maybe this long fingernail is like the one that all those old Asian men have??” But it turns out that’s usually the pinky nail. Mayuri’s long fingernail is the middle finger of his right hand, and from what I can tell after looking at hundreds of panels of him, is that this is consistent throughout the series (someone please correct me if I’m wrong). I think you can see his nails pretty well in these shots:

What’s really standing out to me here isn’t just his long nail, but the fact that all his others are so short?? My initial impression was just that he had painted his nails half black/half white (kinda going along with his face), but on close-up here, it seems like his nails are actually cut really short. That just seems incredibly painful to me, and the only people I know that have nails this short are habitual nail-biters. So maybe he’s a nail biter? Which leads me to wonder why he leaves that middle nail on his right hand so long…

This is just a speculation, but you know those reset buttons on certain electronics that can only be reached with a needle or unfolded paperclip? I feel like a lot of older electronics were like this. ANYWAY, given all the modifications that Mayuri has given himself, I think this long nail is probably his version of a reset button tool. There’s no way he doesn’t have one somewhere on him, which he needs to hit for a hard reset when he messes something up. It’s gotta be a long and thin tool that can hit a reset button, and a fingernail is the perfect choice! It’s easily accessible, in fact, it’s already on his hand!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Mayuri canonically takes off his makeup every night and reapplies it every day. We know that underneath it all, he’s a (somewhat) normal looking shinigami. And it seems like it would be kinda inconvenient to have that long nail all the time… So I think it might also be a stick-on nail??

[cywscross]

-0-

There May Be Some Collateral Damage by metisket (HP Crossover)

Ichigo’s been ordered to go undercover at a magic school to bodyguard a kid named Harry Potter, and this would be fine, except that he’s about as good at bodyguarding as he is at magic. And he considers it a good day, magic-wise, if he hasn’t set anything on fire.

Hogyoku ex Machina my Mac Calleach

In the final battle with Aizen a different choice is made, and now Ichigo and his greatest enemy have gone back to the beginning. His best friends are powerless, his allies don't know him, and everything he loves is in danger. No non-canon pairings. Complete, with the sequel now posted.

Chloroform by Lady Adain (pocketTherapist)

“Geta-boushi. I know you’re probably busy with important things, but… If I wanted some chloroform, where would I get it? Hypothetically.”

The Path towards Unwilling Godhood by Sky_King

Ichigo has never had the most normal life, and this latest chapter of it is no different.

"I'm not a god!"

the crown of it was fire by blackkat

Lilynette’s fingers tighten on his uniform, and her breath trembles out of her.

Starrk can sense it, too. The captain burns in their mind, a bonfire, a falling star. Like a shadow that’s also a blaze, and Starrk wants to warm his hands in that hot darkness, to touch it, to wrap himself in it. Enemy, he thinks, but—

Sentinel, beneath it, and that’s a thousand times more meaningful.

Kitten Attack by Akaluan

An accident leads to the teens being transformed into kittens, and now Kisuke needs to figure out how to undo whatever it is that's been done to them.

Scales by Straight_Outta_Hobbiton

In which Ichigo is a dragon who hoards people.

Reaping Justice by Blazonix

He winds up in an afterlife different from his expectations, in a body that's oddly familiar. When he's shoved into an office filled to the brim with paperwork, he naturally assumes he's in hell, and the crazy voice in his head backs up that assumption. Good thing he's good at adapting.

Protégé by blackkat

Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni is a wise and terrifying warrior, the titan who has ruled the Gotei 13 for over a thousand years. But, at heart, he’s an old man who likes his tea prepared a certain way and has a soft spot for talented youngsters. It started with Ukitake and Kyoraku, and his latest fledgling seems to be one Kurosaki Ichigo, substitute soul reaper.

(Alternatively, a story in which Yamamoto is a crafty old man, Ichigo grows up to be utterly terrifying, and Aizen doesn’t stand a chance.)

The Shiba's Heart by FeelingFredly

The battles are over for now, but there are still some things that Ichigo knows must be protected. The Shiba's Heart is one of them.

Now to convince Kisuke...

singing a rushlight, pyre light by blackkat

Starrk wakes to find a man sitting in the sand beside them.

Blindsided by Hiruma Musouka

Because even geniuses can miss the blatantly obvious. UraIchi. "Urahara Kisuke knew that he had… issues."

Inner Peace, Utter Chaos by glacis

In which Soul Reapers watch, Espada share, and Ichigo finds his own form of diplomacy. This is very AU and canon events are not followed, because everybody’s too busy gettin’ busy with Ichigo.

Second Chances by glacis

Ichigo trains in his soul and keeps his secrets, because the Hōgyoku is just a baby, Muramasa is the most loyal being he has ever met, Shiro is a troublemaker, Zangetsu’s a truth-teller, Ichigo isn’t as trusting as he used to be, and they all deserved a second chance.

Not exactly pushing daisies by tetsurashian

Kurosaki Ichigo can see spirits. And bring the dead back to life for a day at a time. It doesn't and does change things. (Slightly crack-y AU, but with a dash of seriousness.)

Dust in the Light by AzarDarkstar

He's not dead. Just slightly misplaced.

Seven, Eight, Lay Them Straight by Branch

Yamamoto wants some captains back. Hirako doesn't trust him a bit. But there are other people who have a stake in the argument, and he has a harder time saying no to them. Alternate storyline, because if KT really intends to break them up, well I'm just not having with that.

The Smile by Kachanski

There are, surprisingly, many things that strike fear into the hearts of eleventh squad. But nothing, not even the disaster known as Yachiru terrifies them quite as much as a smile from Yumichika.

I'm a Certified Genius, I Swear by Chaos_Greymistchild

Kisuke’s not quite sure why he keeps getting gifts from the Shiba Clan Head, Shiba Ichigo, but— Hiyori please stop laughing please

With Honor by wynnebat

Upon Yamamoto's last words, Kisuke opened his eyes and faced a room full of ghosts, and he smiled at them.

"I'm honored to be here," Kisuke said to each of the captains who congratulated him on his promotion.

[jaquesofdragons]

Headcanons

Edit: Part 2 is here.

Bleach Canon is full of holes. I’m not talking about actual ‘mistakes’ by the author, plot holes (though those too), but the gaps Kubo just didn’t have the screen time to fill in, or where the story was taken a different direction so certain questions remain unexplored.

I hardly think I’m alone in saying that fanfic authors and many fans that don’t write too, love these for their inherent exploitability.

But in some cases they’re just frustrating. I’m a pretty logical person and facts are building blocks for worlds and characterization. If the building blocks don’t exist nothing stable can be built on top. I fully acknowledge that this might be a manifestation of slight obsessiveness. 

The hours of research I have put into the most random of shit--!! I have no words. 

In any case, for In Another Life, I bloody filled in some of the holes so that I could write. I took a few liberties that... stretch canon just a little bit. And I just expanded a crap-ton of other things beyond canon because I wanted to. 

Nothing surprising in fandom of course, but I thought I should actually share at some point. Most of it’s probably going to come out as the story progresses. As I actively try not to info dump, some of it’s not going to come out for a while, despite not being a secret. 

So here are a few, like time lines and character origins.  

The Bleach time line is kind of nonexistent. As I’m writing time-travel that suddenly was a thing that really needed to get nailed down. 

So, I did that thing. This is part of the relevant canon timeline I screwed with to make In Another Life. From my very first notes on this idea, I based this off of canon starting in 2001. I’m not sure how I came under the impression that’s when it first came out instead of 1999. But I’ve honestly had these dates for so long that going through everything to move it back two years... isn’t worth it. Just fyi.

I’ve decide to split this post in two, so there will be a part 2 coming out sooner rather than later covering character origins.

1886 - Rangiku is attacked by Aizen’s goons. Gin makes his promise.

- Aizen promoted to Lieutenant of 5th Division after a...vacancy in the position

- Kaien graduates from the Academy

1887 - Rose is promoted to Captain of 3rd Division

1888 - Gin and Rangiku join the Academy - In Turn Back The Pendulum, it’s stated Gin graduated in a single year. (Yes, I read a gap in there that isn’t implied in canon. It’s also not implied there’s not one.)

- Unnamed Captain of 10th Division dies.

1889 - Kisuke’s promotion, Gin graduates and becomes Third Seat of Fifth. (Start of TBTP)

1891 - Kaien becomes Jyuu's lieutenant 

1894 - Rangiku graduates from the Academy

1898 - Isshin becomes Captain of Tenth. (taking the lack of appearance of the 10th Captain in the before and after spreads of TBTP as being avoiding a spoiler for Isshin being a shinigami)

1899 - The Vizard Incident (End of TBTP)

- Aizen becomes captain of Fifth, Gin becomes lieutenant 

Some extra date things:

- I put the original war with Jhu Bach, Yamamoto and the Gotei 13, and Yama’s Academy, joining Seireitei, and Shunsui and Jyuuishiro joining the Academy in the same decade. Roughly 1005-1015.

- Shunsui and Jyuuishiro become Captains roughly between 1030-1050. 

- A second ‘disagreement’ with the Quincy in the early to mid 1800′s (with lingering tension through to the next century, that leads into Mayuri doing whatever he wants after Kisuke is exiled. Ishida Souken is one of the last proponents of his way of thinking in the 1980-90′s. No, I’m not familiar with the details of the Thousand Year Blood War arc. I’ll get around to it eventually, most of the Quincy stuff I’m not too concerned about date changes if someone wants to give me a little spiel, but I do have some hard-set dates that can’t be changed at this point.)

- Seireitei as we recognize it in canon, with it’s walls, and with the Royal Palace in a separate realm, having passed authority over to C46, I roughly have coming to existence in between the 700′s and 900′s. During the Heian Period of Living World of Japan. The similarities are really striking and I don’t think I’m completely off in thinking that Kubo based Seireitei off of Heian Japan. Kyouraku Shunsui as a character could have walked straight out of Heian Japan with only minor alterations. 

- the 900′s is also when there is evidence that Japan started making their own distinct sword style, although legend claims that Amakuni first created it in the 700′s. So I put Oetsu and Hyobe in the this time period as well. 

I may have forgotten some things with the timeline and I also intentionally left some things out. Questions and comments are welcome.

[luninosity]

Listen, I need you to know how much I adore Ryan Yamamoto.

Yay!!!! *hugs you and sends John over with home-baked bread*

I love Ryan too - he’s so much fun to write! He’s in some ways the most cynical (or at least the most practical) of the three of them, but ALSO in some ways the most self-sacrificing and arguably romantic. Like, he’ll just sigh and roll eyes at both his partners making terrible puns, he refuses to romanticize what they do as superheroes (not that he isn’t genuinely committed to saving people - he is! but as a former sidekick he also looks at, say, Captain Justice and thinks, yeah, Amazing Hero and all, but Tim also sings off-key in the shower and and never did the dishes at the bunker EVER); Ryan’ll be the first to take charge of plans and say, “okay, speculation is good up to a point, but here’s what we actually need to DO,” whether that’s fighting a supervillain or building a bookshelf...

...but he will also do absolutely anything for both Holiday and John, whatever they need, from eating experimental banana bread made with magically-replicated bananas, to handling the team’s finances and funding because both his partners are terrible at that, to metaphorically ripping his own heart out and telling Holly it’s okay to go and transform into something else, if Holly needs to grow and move beyond them...

One thing that honestly surprised me about “Refuge at Clifftop” - as the writer!- was the ending!

~mild spoilers~

First, I hadn’t quite expected anyone to propose yet! Not that I hadn’t set it up earlier, but I wasn’t expecting it yet!

And then I wasn’t expecting it to be Ryan! It wouldn’t be Holiday; Holly’s still just grateful to be part of the relationship, and wouldn’t dare ask for anything more. (And his parents aren’t the best example of marriage...) John’s probably the most ‘traditional’ in that sense, and it’s something he’s pictured, and in fact he’s been *wanting* to ask them for a while - he’s sure, he knows, he wants to marry them. But then he hasn’t asked because he doesn’t want to presume - he’s not sure how Holly feels about marriage, and he’s a little afraid Ryan would just laugh and give the practical answer of, “we’re already committed to each other, we’re sure of each other, why do we need to do a whole ceremony to prove it?” So John has kept on not asking, trying to be nice and understanding and not bring it up...

...and then Ryan, who actually has a giant emotional heart underneath everything, nearly lost both of them, and then didn’t lose them, and now he can’t lose them, he just can’t, and - and he needs something, some gesture, some affirmation, all the affirmation, and - somehow he’s asking them to marry him, the symbol, the reassurance, the confirmation, all of that, please, please.

And so of course it was Ryan who asked. Which, as soon as he did, made complete sense.

It’s utterly hilarious, though. (Wedding head-canon time!)

Because, although Ryan usually has a plan and is a good team leader and all, Ryan himself didn’t expect to ask. So he’s very much like...oh. Okay. Um, what do we do now? I didn’t even get you rings, or - I’ve never even put that much thought into, y’know, what goes into a wedding! Should I ask you again, only better?

And Holly’s delighted, and offering the family mansion and grounds as a site (the magical/psychic protections will also be helpful, what with the number of other superheroes likely to be in attendance), and thinking about magical decorations, and of course money is no object...

And John is entirely the sort of person who, if he doesn’t quite have a whole Wedding Binder full of ideas, has at least been idly saving some links, some images, you know, just in case...OH HERE LET ME SHOW YOU THESE INVITATION DESIGNS I SAW LOOK THEY HAVE LIGHTNING BOLTS BUT ALSO ROSES :D :D :D He will also totally build a wedding gazebo or arch or something with his bare hands and super-strength.

And also they’re going to have to try to figure out how to incorporate Ryan’s Japanese (very Americanized, he’s like third-generation, but still) heritage, and Holly’s English-upper-class book-loving background, and John’s...more difficult...family (they’re trying, they really are...they want to be supportive but still kind of wistfully wish Johnny had just married a nice girl and stayed in the Army like most of his family, instead of this...this thing he’s got himself into, not even just one young man but two, and one’s a former supervillain and one’s from a whole different culture...but he’s happy and we love him and he’s already lost someone once, so dammit we’re going to smile and support him being happy, hisses John’s father to John’s Aunt Karen)...and superpowers, and protecting everybody, and Ryan’s parents having Excitable Scientist Feels about special effects...

It’s a LOT. It’s also somehow a lot of fun, despite everything. And Ryan sometimes stops to look at both his partners, as they enthusiastically plot out the location of the wedding arch or whatever it’s going to be, near the lake on the grounds, and he just...has to smile. They’re his, and he’s theirs. Even if he is going to have to veto the life-size ice sculpture display of them in full costume.

[elarawritingtrash]

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Written in 2018

Summary: A girl from our world is reborn... into Sawada Tsunayoshi. Inexplicably female Sawada Tsunayoshi, even. She deals.

Warnings: Canon-typical violence.

Iemitsu and Nana loved each other. They really did; that was never fake on either of their parts. They had a whirlwind romance; it was only a few short months before he proposed. Only a few more months and they got married. Basking in the thrill of new love, they bought a house together.

Just less than a year after they met, Iemitsu had to leave for work. Nana understood. It was his job and he had to leave, and she wasn't mad about it. Still, understanding didn't stop the ache in her chest where Iemitsu had taken hold of her heart and left with it.

A matter of months after that, Nana realized she was pregnant. After three different types of pregnancy test, the excitement took hold of her and she called Iemitsu in a rush. It wasn't how they usually did things; his schedule was unpredictable and Nana never even knew what time zone he may be in at any given time, and so he was usually the one to call her when he had the time. This, however, Nana felt took precedence.

"What -- Nana? Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Iemitsu said immediately upon answering.

Wherever he was, it was loud; there was a mash of indistinguishable noise audible even over the phone. Nana ignored it.

"I'm fine, dear," she said, and then, before he could interrupt and say he was busy, "I have big news! I couldn't wait to tell you!"

She could practically hear Iemitsu deflate over the phone. The silly man never had been able to deny her. "Is that so? Well, now you've got me all excited!" he said. "Tell me what it is, I'm dying over here, Nana, end my suffering."

There were voices on the other end, too quiet to make out words. Iemitsu ignored them, and so Nana did too.

"Oh, you big goofball," Nana said with a giggle. "Okay, here it is: I'm pregnant!"

Nana waited eagerly for Iemitsu's response. There was silence over the phone, accentuating what sounds like people hammering on wood in the background. Finally, Iemitsu responded, all but babbling in his excitement.

Of course, then there were more voices in the background and Iemitsu excused himself hurriedly, but that was fine. Nana understood that her husband was busy.

Several months later, he was also too busy to be there for the baby's birth. Nana wouldn't lie and say that one was fine, but, well, it's so nice to have any of the time together that they do get, she just wouldn't mention it. It wasn't worth it.

In any case, this one was a little problematic for Nana. She and Iemitsu had, in the intervening months since discovering her pregnancy, discussed names. Iemitsu wanted to follow his family's naming tradition and Nana was fine with that, since it seemed so important to him. However, they'd never actually covered what to do if the baby was a girl. All of the Tokugawa Shoguns were men, for obvious reasons, so how was Nana supposed to name their daughter? At a loss, Nana just went with her preferred choice of Tokugawa names she'd already decided on: Tsunayoshi. It was a boy's name, sure, but it could be cute enough to be a girl's name, too. She could already imagine it. Her daughter, Tsu-chan. That was cute, right?

Sawada Tsunayoshi was just over a year old when she realized that she was doomed. This realization, by sheer coincidence (except not at all) coincided with her first meeting with Sawada Iemitsu.

He was, after all, a little more recognizable than Nana, who for the most part could be a perfectly normal Japanese housewife.

So, yeah. Tsuna, or rather the formerly adult, American woman now inhabiting Tsuna's body, came to a sudden, awful realization and narrowly avoided swearing her head off in English and making everything much worse. Fortunately she did avoid that.

She was Sawada Tsunayoshi and in about twelve years, she was going to be forced into becoming the boss (candidate) of the Vongola Family. Tsuna thought about this. Unlike the canon version of Tsuna, she was not especially adverse to the idea. She was, in fact, rather fond of the idea of doing what Canon!Tsuna had planned to do. The problem, of course, was that she was totally going to die. Canon!Tsuna and co. only survived through sheer dumb luck and the fact that she was here at all likely meant she didn't have any of that.

Tsuna plotted. She had exactly three broad options in life. Number one: somehow manage to save all of Nono's legitimate sons who die before she's fourteen. Number two, flee the country and somehow manage to hide from the Italian Mafia. Three, become so amazingly awesome that she could win at not only life, but Tsuna's life.

Although tempting, number one and number two did seem difficult to achieve. Nigh impossible, really. That left number three.

Tsuna resigned herself to living through the canon storyline. It was pretty much her only real option. It brought up some more questions; how much could she change? How much should she change? The canon storyline actually went really well, all things considered. Except for, like, the emotional suffering of pretty much everybody involved. Still.

From what Tsuna remembered, the Daily Life Arc didn't really have anything important in it. Besides introducing people, anyway, and she probably couldn't change any of that and didn't really care to. She did actually like the characters in Katekyo Hitman Reborn, although it was a little questionable if she'd like them as real people. Well, accepting the weirdos that hung around Canon!Tsuna was part of resigning herself to his life, so whatever. In any case, besides that, she could probably change a lot of the Daily Life arc and not have it matter too much. Which is good, because Tsuna did not remember it well enough to micromanage the entire thing. Whoops.

The first truly important arc was Mukuro's appearance. How could Tsuna even change that if she wanted to? Go after Mukuro earlier than Canon!Tsuna would have? Follow Hibari? Oh, actually, if she changed the Daily Life Arc enough, Hibari wouldn't have Sakura Disease, so that could actually change a lot. Tsuna figured it doesn't matter too much; the Mukuro Arc probably didn't need to go in any specific way. Maybe it wasn't even really important?

If that was the case, then the actual first important arc would be the Varia arc. Which went exactly according to plan down to which Guardians won and lost and in what order. It had always kind of annoyed Tsuna, to be honest. But if it didn't go perfectly, then the Sky Battle probably wouldn't happen? And even if it did, if Tsuna didn't lose the Sky ring to Xanxus, he wouldn't fail the succession test thing and he'd probably never give up on usurping her as Vongola Decimo. But then, he hadn't really in canon anyway, had he? In the Future Arc, the Varia had still been refusing to acknowledge Canon!Tsuna as Decimo.

Oh, and that was the real issue. Arguably the most important and potentially disastrous arc in the series: the Future Arc. If it went wrong, well, there went the entire universe. Literally. Thanks, Byakuran. It would be easy to completely avoid, though. If Tsuna just kept that box of Ten Year Bazooka ammo from falling into Shouichi's hands, the Future Arc probably wouldn't happen at all.

That would be awesome, except. After the Future Arc was the Shimon Arc, and Tsuna and his/her guardians would probably not stand a chance against the Shimon Guardians or Daemon without the whole Vongola Gear thing which was only a thing because of the Future Arc. Plus Byakuran wouldn't have his future memories, so he wouldn't show up to heal Yamamoto. Of course, Tsuna could just keep that from happening, probably, but the point remained that they would most likely get their collective butt kicked in a straight fight if the Future Arc hadn't happened. Even more so than had happened in canon.

Not to mention that after that was the Curse of the Rainbow Arc (Arcobaleno Arc for short). Tsuna was sure the Arcobaleno could find representatives either way, but the end result was trying to beat the Vindice in a direct fight, which. That wasn't going to end well if everybody wasn't as strong as their future selves. The Varia would be weaker, Tsuna and her guardians would be weaker, Byakuran and Yuni might not even be there...? What if it was still Aria as the Sky Arcobaleno with only the Giglio Nero fighting for her? They'd get destroyed. And like, Fran wouldn't be there at all, so the Vindice might actually kill Mukuro or at least destroy his watch...

Thinking about the entire thing gave Tsuna a headache, so she decided to wing it. Or at least figure it out later. Whatever.

It was only potentially the fate of the entire universe on the line, it would probably be fine.

Tsuna's first order of business: keep Iemitsu and Nono from sealing her flames. She wasn't entirely sure why they'd sealed Canon!Tsuna's in the first place, but she figured that the best way was to be completely and utterly unspectacular and also make sure not to use flames around them. Like, obviously.

Her first meeting with Iemitsu was easy enough. She was one years old, he treated her like a newborn baby, and he only hung around for like a week anyway. For most of the week, he and Nana largely ignored Tsuna -- beyond the required caretaking of babies, anyway. Tsuna was already walking and talking, but that week she ardently refused to do either in the hopes of convincing Iemitsu she wasn't an impressive child. Nana did not do anything to hinder this. She didn't even seem to think it was strange.

But then, Nana was a strange woman.

Iemitsu left, and Tsuna started experimenting. The thing was, she really should have known what she was in, because, now that she knew the terminology, it was obvious that she could sense flames. She wasn't sure if that was normally a thing in the Hitman Reborn universe, but she definitely could. Iemitsu just... felt like a Sky. Tsuna couldn't explain it. She wouldn't have recognized it if she didn't know that he was, though, just like she hadn't recognized her own flames for what they were.

Other people felt strange too, gave off an energy of sorts that they never had in her original world. Without a reference point for what each type of flame feels like, though, Tsuna couldn't identify them. Since the only person she'd met that she knew the flame type of was Iemitsu, she could only identify Sky flames. Nana was... not a Sky, and that was as far as Tsuna could tell.

In any case, now that Tsuna knew, she started experimenting with flames. It was a shame that she had Sky flames, since as far as she knew, Mist flame users were the only ones confirmed to be able to use them independently, without a Box Weapon or Dying Will Mode. Still, that wasn't going to stop her from trying. Canon!Tsuna, at least in Hyper Dying Will Mode, was able to light his mitten-gloves on fire. Tsuna wanted to be able to do that too. She wondered if it was possible to will-power one's way to Hyper Dying Will Mode without the bullets or pills? It might be nice to skip the whole almost-naked normal Dying Will Mode phase.

Tsuna went through everything she could remember about using flames from canon (resolve, and whatnot), but saw no results for a long while.

As Tsuna got older, she noticed some odd things. Once, when Tsuna was two, she was coloring in the living room (because coloring can be fun, it's a normal little kid thing to do, and she was using it for the motor control practice it was) while Nana was cooking dinner. Nana wandered out to check on her, leaned over where Tsuna was coloring.

"Wow, Tsu-chan, you're doing so well!" she said.

Tsuna didn't respond, because she knew by now that Nana didn't expect her to, and continued carefully outlining the edge of the cloud in purple. After a moment of watching, Nana settled down on the floor next to Tsuna.

"Doesn't it get kind of boring being so careful?" Nana said.

She didn't question the purple cloud, and though Nana would never be her mother, Tsuna thought she might be able to love her anyway. She shrugged.

"No," she said eventually, because it wasn't. A child might enjoy the chaotic swish of crayon on paper, but she actually liked the precision work better. She'd never been good at drawing.

Nana hummed thoughtfully and stayed there, apparently entranced by the sight of her two year old coloring.

After some time, Tsuna paused in the middle of coloring a field of grass a perfectly normal green, looked up, and thought, the pot is going to boil over. She said as much, and Nana jumped to her feet and rushed into the kitchen. Tsuna blinked, feeling a little off. She listened, and yes, there was the sound of something bubbling from the kitchen, but she hadn't noticed it before, not really. She didn't even know what Nana was making.

That was the first time. Things like that kept happening, but it wasn't until close to a year later, when she warned Nana that somebody was at the door a full two minutes before anybody was actually at the door without any real reason to think so that she realized what it was. Hyper Intuition. Tsuna was a little baffled because she didn't remember Canon!Tsuna having it like this.

She wasn't complaining, though.

The next time, Tsuna told Nana that the mushrooms would go bad if they didn't use them that day (she was really starting to wonder at the Hyper Intuition, what was that), and Nana smiled and nodded like it was perfectly normal for a three year old to say such things.

"You know, Tsu-chan, your eyes turn such a pretty orange sometimes," she said casually, also as though this was perfectly normal.

Tsuna immediately found the nearest reflective surface to check for herself, but her eyes were the same brown as always. Disappointing.

She was still three when she had a breakthrough with flame usage. It was less through careful practice and her own resolve and more through sheer mindless panic. Tsuna woke up in the middle of the night, found a shadow that shouldn't be there next to her bed, and freaked out.

Sucking in a breath ready for screaming, Tsuna bolted upright in bed and, mid flail as her arm gets caught in her blanket, created a line of breathtaking orange fire. The fire lit up the room spectacularly, impacted the fan Nana put in Tsuna's room earlier that day, and fizzled away. Tsuna slowly let out the breath, her heart still trying to beat its way through her ribcage, and felt a little ashamed of overreacting so badly.

But it was definitely soothed by the triumph of making flames. Flames that were definitely Sky flames! And without Dying Will Mode or a Box Weapon or Ring! Tsuna was ecstatic.

She also started practicing harder. Now she had an emotion to focus on. At first, she made the mistake of thinking it was the panic, but it wasn't, not really. It was the knee-jerk refusal to go down without a fight. The instinctive nope to waking up to what she thought was a person at the side of her bed.

Resolve, kind of.

But really it was more like spite.

When Tsuna was four, Iemitsu showed back up for the second time in her life. This time, he came with a jovial old man with a white mustache and brightly colored shirts that he introduced as his boss. Timoteo. Vongola Nono.

Tsuna put the flame practice on hold, played the perfectly normal shy little girl, and spent the majority of her time looking down. She couldn't tell when her eyes turned orange. Though it was usually connected to her Hyper Intuition, she can't always tell when that's going off. This way they hopefully won't notice either.

It fit with her whole shy act, anyway.

Timoteo told Tsuna to call him grandpa, and Tsuna stared at his hands (the Vongola ring), smiled weakly, and obeyed.

Nana got the adults tea on Timoteo's request, set three cups on the coffee table, and sat down on a couch. Tsuna, perched uncomfortably on Iemitsu's lap for a number of reasons, looked at Iemitsu's cup, too-close-to-the-edge-it'll-fall. Iemitsu and Nana didn't seem to have noticed. Just as Tsuna was about to lean forward and push it away from the edge, Timoteo, still evidently engaged in the conversation, nudged it further onto the table without even looking.

Tsuna's heart just about stopped because she forgot Timoteo had the Hyper Intuition as well (it was, after all, Vongola Hyper Intuition). Given that they knew she was part of the line, he almost certainly would have noticed if she'd answered to its call. She didn't give herself away, but she very easily could have. With that, Tsuna resolved to ignore the Hyper Intuition until they leave.

Ten minutes later, Iemitsu got excited about something and leaped up from his seat, picking Tsuna up to avoid sending her flying, and knocked into the table as he did. The cups all rattled around dangerously, but none of them fell off.

Tsuna wondered how Iemitsu apparently managed to not only avoid getting the Vongola Hyper Intuition, but do it so spectacularly.

Despite the fact that both Timoteo and Iemitsu were supposed to be smart people, Tsuna managed to make it the entire two weeks of their stay without giving herself away. Nana, who knew all of Tsuna's secrets and didn't know they were secret, didn't give her away either. Tsuna had noticed something about Nana: she very rarely gave information away. She didn't tend to mention anything unless somebody else mentioned it first.

Tsuna kind of got the feeling that her parents were playing Mafia chicken: who was going to bring up the elephant in the room that was the Mafia first? If that was true, then she was impressed with both of their canon selves for making it until Tsuna was fourteen. And still going, actually.

When Tsuna was five, Nana sent her to kindergarten. This was also the first that she'd really been allowed out of the house save for the backyard and shopping, so she was pretty excited despite the fact that it was, you know, kindergarten. She was sure to be disappointed, but honestly she didn't even care.

Tsuna was not actually disappointed. Not really. Yes, kindergarten was not the greatest time, but neither was being a five year old that wasn't in kindergarten, so things could really only get better.

It was easy to pick out Kyouko and Yamamoto from the horde. Kyouko was an adorably shy five year old, curled in on herself and watching the world with big eyes. Yamamoto, meanwhile, was just as friendly as his future self, but more animated about it.

Hana was there too, and, glaring hatred at the boys in the class, primarily Yamamoto's rowdy group, she attached herself to Kyouko's side apparently without Kyouko's input.

Tsuna had a debate with herself. She didn't actually want to be alone until she was thirteen, but then she also wasn't sure about the ethics of befriending five year olds. Not to mention, Yamamoto seemed more than happy with the friends he effortlessly made and Kyouko and Hana seemed content with just the two of them. And if she waited, they'd probably end up friends anyway by way of the Powers of Canon.

Then again, this was her life now, and she wasn't Canon!Tsuna. Why should she wait until canon when, if they'd get along anyway, they could be friends now? With that decided, Tsuna also decided to try to befriend Kyouko and Hana first. They were... a little less impenetrable than Fort Yamamoto and Friends. It went really well. Being five, Tsuna walked right up to them and asked if she could sit with them.

Kyouko smiled at her and agreed, and Hana didn’t argue. Kyouko did have a nice smile, Tsuna decided, in a totally not-creepy way.

And apparently it was as simple as that. Suddenly they were friends now. Tsuna was allowed to walk over and sit with them without asking and vice-versa. She wasn't sure how to feel about it. Making friends was never this easy in her first life -- although, maybe it was just easier as kids.

Tsuna stuck with Kyouko and Hana for a while, watching Yamamoto for an opening. He had to spend some time not completely surrounded, right? As soon as that happened, she'd pounce. Even if they wouldn't exactly be canon style friends where they seemed to do everything together, she could get started on that friendship a little early. If there was anything she'd like to change about the Daily Life Arc, it was Yamamoto getting to the point of almost committing suicide. Well, there were probably other things, too, but that was the first one to come to mind.

She just couldn't make herself interrupt when he was surrounded by people.

"Um, Hana-chan, Tsuna-chan," Kyouko said, trying to meet their eyes and failing. "Do -- do you want to come over to my house after school tomorrow?"

The next day was Saturday, so they would have a half-day of school.

Hana shrugged. "Yeah, sure," she said. "Not like I want to hang around at home with my brothers. My mom will probably be thrilled, too."

Kyouko's expression brightened into an almost-smile. Her gaze shifted expectantly to Tsuna.

"I'd love to!" Tsuna said. There was really no other possible answer to those hopeful eyes. "I'll ask my mom if I can, but she'll probably say yes."

It wasn't like she had any reason not to, and anyway it was worth it just for Kyouko's sheer happiness.

After school, walking hand-in-hand with Nana to get home, Tsuna asked about it. "Mom, can I go over to Kyouko-chan's house after school tomorrow?"

"Hm? Of course! My little Tsu-chan making friends, Mom is so happy!" Nana said.

And that was the end of that. Nana didn't ask about transport at all, didn't care to ask about contact information, nothing. It was a good thing Tsuna wasn't really five, she reflected.

"Grandma can't make the walk to come pick us up every day," Kyouko explained the next day. "So Big Brother and I walk home together."

"You have a brother, Kyouko-chan?" Hana said, scrunching up her nose.

Kyouko nodded happily. "Yup! He's a year older than me. He should be getting out of class soon. You have brothers too, right Hana-chan?"

"Ugh." Hana's disgusted expression worsened. "Three older brothers and a younger brother, and they're all awful."

Tsuna was maybe starting to see why Canon!Hana held such dislike for the 'monkey' boys in her class.

"They can't be that bad," Tsuna said with a giggle.

"They are!" Hana said. "They're loud and messy and in-- inco-- rude!"

Kyouko laughed. When Hana gave her a betrayed look, she patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said.

Hana frowned, almost pouting. "Anyway, have you guys seen the newest episode of Sailor Moon?" she said, obviously changing the subject.

Kyouko and Tsuna went with it. About ten minutes later, there was a shout. "Kyouko!"

A young boy rushed up to the gate where they were waiting, hardly slowing at all before practically tackling Kyouko in a hug. Kyouko seemed to be used to this treatment, and hardly reacted to almost being bowled over.

"I'm EXTREMELY sorry for being late, Kyouko!" the boy bellowed, evidently at top volume.

Kyouko just smiled. "It's okay, Big Brother," she said.

At this point in time, Kyouko was only five years old, but Tsuna could kind of see Canon!Tsuna's appreciation for her smile. It was sweet, but as bright as the Sun flames she shared with Ryohei.

"Big Brother, these are my friends, Kurokawa Hana and Sawada Tsunayoshi," Kyouko said, wiggling carefully out of his hold. She fumbled a little over the names, but not much. "Hana-chan, Tsuna-chan, this is my brother, Sasagawa Ryohei!"

Ryohei turned to them, and Tsuna got a strangely ominous feeling. "Kyouko's friends, huh? Well, any friend of Kyouko is a friend of mine!" he declared at only slightly less than the top volume he'd been speaking in before. "You can call me Ryohei, okay?"

It was phrased as a question, but Tsuna got the feeling it wasn't a question.

"You can call me Tsuna, then," she said. "It's nice to meet you, Ryohei-san!"

Hana turned to look at her aghast. After a glance at Kyouko's beaming smile, however, she swallowed down whatever she'd wanted to say. "It's nice to meet you... Ryohei-san," she said reluctantly.

"ALL RIGHT!" Ryohei said. Several nearby people flinched. "Let's go home, then!"

He pumped his fists, then held one hand out to Kyouko. She put her hand in his automatically. "Everybody hold hands so nobody gets lost," Ryohei said. It sounded like he was reciting somebody else's words.

Smiling, Kyouko held out her hand, and Tsuna obediently grabbed hold, then offered her other hand to Hana, who gave them both a pained look. Still, after a moment of Ryohei staring expectantly while Tsuna faced away from him and tried not to laugh, she grabbed Tsuna's hand.

Finally, they were off. Ryohei led them carefully through Namimori. His forehead was furrowed in concentration, and he watched the three of them as well as strangers carefully. Tsuna wondered if it was normal to have a six year old and three five year olds walk home from school together. It seemed like a lot of responsibility and danger.

But then, given what Kyouko said, they didn't have much choice. Their grandmother couldn't pick them up -- so their parents probably weren't in the picture? It kind of explained why Ryohei ended up so protective of Kyouko, Tsuna supposed.

A couple of weeks later, an Opportunity to befriend Yamamoto appeared. Kind of.

All of the students had been sent outside for recess, and as they usually did, Tsuna, Kyouko, and Hana were sitting at the edge of the asphalt playground area talking. A shadow fell over them, and Tsuna looked up to find Yamamoto standing in front of them. There was a small crowd of boys behind him.

"Hi!" he said once he had their attention. "We're playing a game, but we don't have enough people. Do you want to play?"

One of the other boys stepped closer to Yamamoto. "But they're girls," he hissed in what he probably thought was an undertone.

"So?" Yamamoto said with an uncomprehending look.

Faced with having to explain exactly why them being girls was a problem, the other boy faltered.

Tsuna, Kyouko, and Hana exchanged looks. Tsuna, having been trying to get an in with Yamamoto anyway, was instantly and totally on board regardless of boys being stupid. Kyouko, who was a friendly and generally open-minded person, was curious about it. Hana, who didn't like boys or rowdy people or sports, wasn't particularly interested.

After a moment, Hana visibly relented. Tsuna turned back to Yamamoto, already getting to her feet.

"Sure, I'll play," she said readily.

Kyouko hesitated, looking uncertainly at Hana, who nudged her.

"Ah, me too," Kyouko said eventually.

"I'd rather not," Hana said, then waved Tsuna and Kyouko off. "It's fine, I'll just watch."

Yamamoto flashed a blinding, 100 watt grin. "Okay!" he said.

The game turned out to be some strange kickball thing, where it basically followed the rules of baseball but with a soccer ball and kicking instead of a baseball and bat.  Tsuna wasn't sure why she was surprised about that, honestly.

The teams ended up with Yamamoto, Tsuna, and Kyouko on one against the other three boys Yamamoto had been with on the other.

Tsuna had never had much experience with baseball or kickball in either of her lives, and so honestly her grasp of the rules was extremely shaky. Kyouko, probably, was in a similar boat. Yamamoto, of course, was pretty much the king of the game, far outstripping the rest of them. He wasn't very good at explaining the rules to Tsuna and Kyouko, but he was patient about it.

Their team won against the boys, in the end, and Tsuna was vindictively pleased. Even if it was because Yamamoto carried them, they hadn't completely ruined his chances or anything.

Because children were apparently like that, after that Tsuna, along with Kyouko, was kind of friends with Yamamoto. The other boys seemed to disapprove of her or at least dislike her, but Yamamoto himself always seemed perfectly friendly even if she interrupted while he was with several of the other boys.

Still, it wasn't like Tsuna had usurped his other friendships. Yamamoto still spent most of his time with those other boys. It was just that now Tsuna was part of the In-Crowd who was allowed to approach him.

Tsuna still spent most of her time with Kyouko and Hana, anyway, so it was fair.

Regardless of Tsuna's intentions, her being more proactive did not cause canon to start early, so overall, very little happened for a long time. They finished kindergarten, started first grade, and eventually moved into second grade.

Whenever Tsuna wasn't actively spending time with any of her friends, she studied. Not the blade, since that was Yamomoto's thing (or it would be, anyway), but specifically she studied Japanese. Tsuna wanted to have an adult's reading level, but man. Japanese was hard. So she studied a lot.

It was also in second grade, at the age of seven, that Tsuna met Hibari for the first time. Tsuna was alone for lunch, for various reasons, and eating on one of the roofs which people weren't technically supposed to go up to.

Really, it was practically asking to run into Hibari. That definitely wasn't why she did it in the first place.

So, Tsuna was eating her lunch innocently, and suddenly Hibari, at the approximate age of eight, came swanning up out of nowhere and whacked her over the head with a tonfa.

Tsuna flinched away. "Ow! What was that for?" she complained, rolling away to remove herself from tonfa range.

"You are trespassing," Hibari said remorselessly. "Leave, or I will bite you to death."

There were two things about this that Tsuna noted immediately. First, the fact that he actually gave an option for mercy. She was about ninety percent sure that Canon!Hibari went looking for excuses to beat people up, and so would never give up a perfect opportunity. Second, he was already using his strange, strange phrase by eight.

And then she actually thought about the ultimatum he'd just given her. She had achieved what she wanted by hanging out on the roof, which was running into Hibari himself, and there were plenty of other places she could eat lunch. On the other hand, she was there first and Hibari wasn't actually allowed on the roof any more than Tsuna herself was. He was being a hypocrite, likely because he wanted to nap in peace, if Canon!Hibari was any indication.

So, because apparently she was suicidal, Tsuna frowned, got to her feet, and said, "You're not allowed up here either."

Something she knew would absolutely start a fight. With Hibari, there were very few other ways for an encounter to go, anyway.

Hibari's eyes narrowed. That was all the warning Tsuna got before Hibari was suddenly right back in her face, first tonfa already halfway to her head.

The thing was, Tsuna was not experienced at fighting. She had never done any form of martial arts in her first life, not even self-defense, and obviously this time around she was seven. And, apparently, Hibari was monstrously strong at all ages.

However, Tsuna had the Vongola Hyper Intuition and an adult brain capable of reading its urges and reacting to them.

As far as Tsuna would recall later, the fight went something like this: duck the tonfa, wait there's another tonfa, step back to dodge a strange upper-cut-like move, dodge roll to the left, get back to her feet fast, wait no back down to avoid the tonfa again, kick out at Hibari's legs, miss because he dodged backwards, back to her feet again, Hibari was approaching again, step back, WAIT watch out for the rock. Tsuna glanced down to find that yes, there was a rock where she'd been going to step which she would have tripped over. Then, having taken her eyes off Hibari, she was surprised when he got her square in the face.

From there, it was a mess, really. In the end, with a few achy new bruises, Tsuna was forced to flee the roof.

Tsuna wasn't ashamed, exactly. She was pretty sure it was a fact of the universe that Hibari Kyouya would always be able to beat Sawada Tsunayoshi -- although they'd never fought directly in canon after Canon!Tsuna really started getting strong. Still, she didn't think that losing was embarrassing.

It was just annoying.

The petty, contrary part of her was furious that Hibari had successfully chased her away. He was stronger than her, and he'd used that to get what he wanted. That was fair, but it didn't stop Tsuna from being irritated by it.

Thinking wistfully of her abandoned lunch, Tsuna decided then that she wouldn't let it go so easily. Hibari may be stronger than her, but she wasn't going to give up. Most days, she ate lunch with her friends, but after that, she took one day a week to go up to that roof, vindictively, just to annoy him. She would never allow him to nap in peace.

It was odd, though. Tsuna had gone up to the roof before and Hibari hadn't shown those times, which probably meant he didn't always nap up there during lunchtime. After that first encounter, though, he was there on the roof every time Tsuna was.

(Tsuna still got beat up and fled most of the time, and the bruises got hard to explain, but she wouldn't give up.)

The next year, Tsuna decided that her Japanese had gotten good enough to branch out a bit, and started working on Chinese. Going right for Italian seemed too on-the-nose, and she didn't want to be obvious about knowing about Iemitsu's job, and Chinese was cool. Plus, almost all of the Italians in series spoke Japanese, while I-pin, the Chinese speaker, did not speak Japanese very well, so Chinese would, ironically, be more useful.

"Is that a beginner's Chinese book?" Hana said dubiously when she noticed.

"Yup," Tsuna said.

"Ooh, you're so smart, Tsuna-chan!" Kyouko said.

Hana made a face. "But why? Isn't English enough?" she complained.

Both of them knew full well that Tsuna aced all of their English tests. Tsuna was pleased that neither of them bothered to mention it.

"I guess. I just like languages," Tsuna said.

It was actually true. She did like languages; otherwise she probably wouldn't have willingly subjected herself to a third one. Canon!Tsuna hadn't had to learn any extra languages for the storyline, after all. Still, Tsuna was pretty sure that if she was going to take over as the boss of an Italian mafia, she would need to know Italian at least. So really, she was subjecting herself to a fourth language in learning Chinese.

She found she didn't really care.

When Tsuna was eight, and Yamamoto was nine because his birthday was earlier than hers, he disappeared from school for several days. The gossip and rumor mills being what they were, the news of why got to the school before Yamamoto even returned.

His mother had died.

It was a little unclear exactly what had happened, and Tsuna didn't put any extra effort into figuring that out. That was none of her business. Even if she was dying of curiosity.

The point was, Yamamoto's mom died. Tsuna knew, intellectually, that that happened. She'd been dead for canon, after all. It didn't make it less sad, though.

Yamamoto was missing from school for the rest of that week, and reappeared on the next Monday. Given the crowd he'd drawn in the canon storyline when he was threatening to jump off the roof, Tsuna half expected that everybody would crowd around him. Offering condolences, maybe, or asking graceless questions about it.

That didn't happen at all.

Almost ghostly for the lack of color in his cheeks even now, Yamamoto slipped around like a specter. When confronted, he forced a smile onto his face and replied with horribly forced cheer, but he didn't initiate anything or speak without prompting.

As a result, or perhaps entirely unrelated to Yamamoto's behavior and simply because of awkwardness about his mother's death, the class, including Yamamoto's usual friends tip-toed around him, talking in undertones and going quiet if he approached. Overall, it was very much leaving him out, suddenly.

Tsuna wondered if none of them had ever dealt with a person who'd lost someone. She wasn't entirely sure how to go about it either, but this, she felt, was totally wrong. In a way, she thought, she was currently seeing why and when Yamamoto became emotionally distanced from his friends as he was in canon. She could even understand it: if they weren't willing to stick with him when he was grieving, if they didn't want to talk to him if he wasn't carrying the conversation, what was really the value in their 'friendship'?

It wasn't comparable at all, Tsuna knew. Yet she looked at Yamamoto, at the face of a nine year old whose mother had died and who felt like their entire world was falling apart, and she saw herself. Her parents in her first life had died, too, and she still vividly remembered the stabbing pain of the loss, but that wasn't what she thought of. She hadn't been a child when either of her parents died, after all. Rather, she thought of her own death and being thrown, screaming, into an entirely different universe. She wondered if that was what he felt like. Did life look different now? Was everything strange and off and wrong?

From the look on his face, she'd bet that was how he felt.

So Tsuna sucked up the awkwardness and the uncertainty about bothering Yamamoto while he was grieving, gave an apologetic look to Hana and Kyouko, and barged into his bubble of fellow-student-observed privacy.

"Hi, Yamamoto-kun!" she said, trying too hard for a cheerful tone.

Yamamoto looked up, surprise and something almost like dismay on his face for a split second before he gathered himself and started forming that fake, fake smile.

Tsuna just kept going, talking before he could even try. "So I noticed you were out of school for a couple of days and I was thinking I could catch you up on what's happened!" she said. "Not school work, I mean, the teachers probably helped with that, but like, did anyone tell you about the fight between Aosa-kun and Sarue-chan?"

Yamamoto blinked. "No, not yet," he said slowly.

"It was amazing. Or horrible. Depending on how you look at it," Tsuna said, sitting next to him now that he'd encouraged her even the littlest bit.

"Oh yeah? Which side are you on?" Yamamoto said, a hint of a real smile on his face.

Tsuna beamed. "Amazing, of course," she said, and without prompting, continued, "Okay, so, you know how Sarue-chan accused Aosa-kun of cheating, right? We~ll, it turned out that he was. Technically. I mean, he had his older sister helping him, so I think that counts as cheating. Sarue-chan obviously thought so too..."

Tsuna kept talking almost solid throughout the rest of their break, with only minimal input from Yamamoto. She considered it a success when, halfway through, Yamamoto laughed for the first time since he'd returned to school.

The next day, Kyouko and Hana, giving Tsuna extremely similar understanding looks, although tinged with different shades of emotion (approval in Kyouko's case and exasperation in Hana's), joined the two of them. Between the three of them, it was easy to keep a conversation going, though Tsuna was careful to make sure that Yamamoto was included in it. Hana had an impressive dry wit, and offered a different, yet still funny, perspective of things from Tsuna's version, while Kyouko found the both of them hilarious, and her laughter was infectious. To Tsuna's joy, within a couple of weeks, almost all of Yamamoto's smiles were real.

And, although once they considered it 'safe', Yamamoto's usual friends returned and he went back to spending time with them, he still spent a large majority of his time with Tsuna, and Kyouko, and Hana, when any or all of them were around. (After a while of this, Yamamoto slung his arm around Tsuna's shoulders and outright called her 'Tsuna' with no honorific instead of the 'Sawada' it had been before, so Tsuna looked back, raised her eyebrows, and called him 'Takeshi'.)

Even when Tsuna was doing her weekly lunch with Hibari, the three of them often spent it together without her, and Tsuna found that she was actually delighted by this turn of events. It was surprisingly cool that she'd managed to get them to become friends with each other, and not solely when they separately wanted to spend time with her.

So yeah, Tsuna was pretty pleased.

Through her weekly lunches (aka fights) with Hibari, Tsuna was slowly but steadily getting better at fighting. Their fights also steadily got longer and longer before the inevitable conclusion of Tsuna getting tired of getting new bruises and fleeing. Finally, halfway through third grade, the usual format changed.

Tsuna was keeping up surprisingly well, although she had a new bruise on one forearm, the other shoulder, and one of her shins. She was getting tired, though, and the new injuries hurt, making it harder and harder to keep up with him. Since it was practically all she could do to dodge, Hibari only had one Tsuna-inflicted injury, which she doubted was even a proper bruise; she'd just barely gotten him in the stomach with a kick, and he'd been dodging backwards at the time anyway.

So things were not going in her favor at all, and Tsuna was just about ready to call it and make a run for the stairs.

Then Hibari abruptly backed off, a thunderous scowl on his face. A second later, during which Tsuna could do nothing but gape, because Hibari didn't just stop, the warning bell went off. Lunch was almost over.

Hibari glared at Tsuna briefly, though it seemed different from usual, then spun around sharply and stalked over to the far side, where he settled on the floor and appeared to go to sleep. Tsuna stared for a moment. She knew he usually napped up there, or at least she'd assumed so, but didn't he care about class? Eventually, Tsuna just shrugged it off and left to go to her own class. Honestly, it wouldn't even surprise her if Hibari was planning to skip class just to get his nap in.

After that, Tsuna was surprised to discover that she had, evidently, earned Hibari's respect. That was not to say he stopped attacking her, because that was most definitely not the case. He did, however, stop fighting after thirty minutes and allow her to spend the rest of lunch on the roof while he napped (or appear to, anyway). Tsuna figured it was his way of conceding, even if only so that he still got some nap time before classes started again.

And of course she stayed on the roof once he'd given up; it was her hard-earned right to eat lunch on that roof, okay. It had taken her more than a year of getting beaten up by Hibari and then, each day, thirty minutes of narrowly avoiding being subjected to that fate yet again, to secure her right to eat on the roof. Tsuna was absolutely going to take advantage of it.

Several awful, wintery months later, they made it to February (an awful month to be true, yet the end of winter was in sight), and Valentine's Day reared its ugly head.

Tsuna debated with herself for a week and a half before deciding to try to make homemade chocolates for her male friends. All two of them, and that was reaching to count Ryohei. On a whim, Tsuna decided to (try to) make some for Hibari as well. Bribery was absolutely Tsuna's jam and she wanted him to like her even if only for her acceptable chocolates.

Because really, she doubted anyone else had the guts to give him chocolates regardless of his pretty face.

So, about three days before Valentine's Day, Tsuna asked Nana (who is a masterful chef in her own right) to teach her how to make chocolates. If it were what Tsuna still considered 'modern day', meaning the mid-to-late 2010s, she would have googled it. As it was, the year 2000 and without even a computer much less a smart phone, Tsuna could not do that.

Fortunately, Nana both knew how and was absolutely delighted to teach her.

"Aah, my little Tsu-chan, growing up and making chocolate for boys!" she squealed.

Tsuna knew it wouldn't affect anything if she tried to point out that the chocolates weren't romantic, so she didn't bother.

"So, do you want to customize them?" Nana asked. "You know, do something special for each boy!"

Tsuna blinked. Specialized chocolate? "Like how?"

"Well, you know, your dad really loves caramel, so I'd put caramel centers in his!" Nana said. "Do you know anything like that?"

"Uh..." Tsuna thought about it. She knew nothing about Hibari's preferences for obvious reasons. Takeshi, she was pretty sure, liked vanilla because he was that kind of person. Ryohei, in his on-going existence as being as extreme as possible, liked spicy foods.

She told Nana as much, who beamed. It turned out that there was a way to make spicy chocolate, and to put vanilla (but not like, pure vanilla flavoring) inside chocolates. And, because Tsuna didn't have anything to say for Hibari's, Nana decided on her own to give them caramel centers and refused to be dissuaded. Tsuna had obviously inadvertently caused her to feel nostalgic.

The first batch was almost entirely made by Nana, while Tsuna just watched, so naturally they came out perfect. Tsuna wanted to make the chocolates herself, though, or she would have just gotten store-bought ones.

So, she tried on her own, with Nana watching over her shoulder and giving her pointers. Still, even with the help, batch number one came out.... mushy.

Tsuna didn't even know that was possible.

Batch two came out crunchy.

Batch three was too salty, and it was a very good thing that the Sawada family, thanks to Iemitsu's illegal career, was rich, and Nana was a very understanding person.

Batch four didn't have enough salt.

Batch five was edible, but less like proper, balled chocolate and more like chocolate chips.

Batch six, finally, was both edible and even remotely correctly shaped. They weren't pretty, still, but Tsuna decided it was good enough. Her friends would just have to deal.

Honestly, Tsuna wasn't even sure why she bothered when, in the end, they went out to the store to get 'proper' boxes to put the chocolates in anyway. Nana gave her the choice of what colors to get, so, because Tsuna thought she was extremely funny even if nobody else would get the joke, she decided on a blue box with black ribbon for Takeshi, a yellow box with white ribbon for Ryohei, and a purple box with black ribbon for Hibari.

She was hilarious, obviously.

Valentine's Day itself came around. Tsuna gave her chocolates to Takeshi first thing in the morning, before class.

"Appreciation chocolates," she made sure to clarify.

Takeshi laughed. "Hey, thanks, Tsuna! I appreciate you too!" he said cheerfully and tucked the chocolates away carefully.

Tsuna shrugged. "Try the chocolates before you thank me," she said. "I tried to make them myself, but they didn't come out so well."

"Oh, Tsuna-chan, you know how to make chocolates?" Kyouko said. "That's so cool!"

"Well, I asked my mom to teach me, she's like this amazing cook. I swear she knows how to make everything," Tsuna said.

They were interrupted by a small group of girls walking up in a huddle to offer several boxes of chocolate to Takeshi. They weren't quite to the age, yet, where girls went crazy giving chocolates to popular boys, but apparently, they were old enough. Takeshi accepted the chocolates gracefully, and the girls walked away with heavy blushes.

By the time lunch came around, Takeshi had a small pile of boxes of chocolates.

"Somebody's popular," Tsuna said dryly. "Maybe I should take my chocolates back?"

"Aw, no way," Takeshi said with one of his usual grins. "I appreciate your chocolates the most."

Tsuna figured most of the girls who'd given him chocolate would have swooned at that, but. She wasn't really feeling it.

During lunch, Tsuna excused herself from eating with her friends.

"Huh? Why?" Kyouko said.

"There's somebody else I want to give appreciation chocolates to, but he's not in our class, so I don't know when else to find him," Tsuna explained.

"Somebody else?" Hana said with a wrinkle in her nose. "Who? ...Why?"

Tsuna laughed. "I just feel like it," she said.

"Nooo, Tsuna-chan, you can't say something like that and leave!" Kyouko said. "You have to tell us who it is!"

"I don't know if you'd know him," Tsuna said, but shrugged. They'd find out eventually either way. "His name is Hibari Kyouya."

To Tsuna's surprise, all three of them paled a little. All of them started talking at the same time.

"The demon?" Hana said.

Takeshi frowned. "Are you sure that's okay?"

"Huh? Isn't he super scary?" Kyouko said.

"I don't know, we've been hanging out --" technically, "-- at lunch once a week for a while now. I think it's fine."

And then Tsuna fled before they could refuse to let her go. Honestly.

She went up to the roof to wait. She wasn't entirely sure Hibari would show up, actually; it wasn't their usual scheduled fight-day. After a few minutes, though, he stalked through the door onto the roof.

Tsuna was impressed. He either had a sixth-sense for these things, did actually nap on the roof all the time now, or had the roof under surveillance.

"I don't want to fight," she said hurriedly before he could attack her.

Hibari's eyes narrowed. Tsuna dug the box of chocolates out of her bag.

"I just wanted to give you these," she said, offering the box. "Then I'll be leaving."

After a moment of staring at the box with something like suspicion, Hibari snatched it from Tsuna's hand.

"Fine. Leave, herbivore," he said, striding over to his usual spot and laying down.

Tsuna rolled her eyes, supposed she should count herself lucky he'd decided not to 'bite her to death' regardless, and skedaddled.

Later that day, she accosted Ryohei as he was picking Kyouko up so they could walk home together and gave him his box of chocolates. Ryohei accepted it with great enthusiasm and also a rib-cracking hug, so Tsuna figured that made up for Hibari's ungrateful attitude.

(Even later, Ryohei and Takeshi would both say that Tsuna's chocolates had been awesome. On her next fight-day with Hibari, after they'd finished the fight, he looked at her for a bit longer than usual and said that he didn't like the caramel, and then went to lay down. Tsuna was somewhat insulted but mostly just took it as a challenge to find something he did like.)

Truth be told, Tsuna hadn't even considered the existence of White Day when she gave her friends chocolate. She managed to all but completely forget it existed.

So, it came as a surprise, when, March 14th, Takeshi greeted her before class with a store-bought box of white chocolate. Tsuna stared for a long moment.

Takeshi, evidently unbothered, laughed. "I tried to make homemade white chocolate, but it didn't turn out that well, so! Here," he said.

It was then, after approximately thirty seconds, that Tsuna remembered that White Day was a thing. The day boys who had received chocolate on Valentine's Day were supposed to return the gift with white chocolate or jewelry or something.

"Thank you," Tsuna said on instinct as she took the box.

Takeshi laughed at her again.

Later that day, during the two entire seconds Tsuna was alone, Hibari appeared like an apparition.

"Herbivore," he said to get her attention. "It is White Day."

With that, he held out a modest-sized cake covered in white frosting and dropped it without waiting for Tsuna to reach out first, causing her to have to jerk forward to catch it. Tsuna examined the cake suspiciously. It wasn't especially large, definitely a one-person cake, but it was beautifully decorated with white frosting.

It looked really expensive. Much more than three times the worth of the chocolate Tsuna had given him.

But, when Tsuna looked up, Hibari was halfway down the hall, evidently making his escape while she was distracted, so she couldn't say anything about it. Tsuna stared after him for a moment.

Then she decided to redouble her Valentine's Day efforts the next year. Clearly, Hibari was the kind of person who had to win in all things, including giving gifts. Tsuna wasn't sure why she was surprised. But she was also not going to lose.

Later, finishing off the near-perfect mirror of how Tsuna had handed out her chocolates, Ryohei found her just after school to give her yet another return gift. Ryohei's turned out to be what seemed to Tsuna to be a party-sized platter of cookies. However, due to the sheer enthusiasm of his giving them to her, Tsuna did not have an opportunity to refuse them.

Tsuna stared down at the package of probably ninety cookies and found herself making Hansel and Gretel jokes. There was no way she was going to be able to finish off that many cookies before they went stale.

(She ended up sharing them with Kyouko, Hana, and Takeshi.)

Tsuna had managed, so far, to skate by unnoticed by most people; the bullies left her alone, and despite being friends with the Two Most Popular Kids in Class(tm), people didn't really seem to consider her popular.

She liked to consider it a result of a healthy dose of minding her own business. It was, she reflected, almost a miracle considering how pitifully Canon!Tsuna did not manage the same thing. Maybe there was something more to it, but if so, Tsuna wasn't doing it on purpose, so she was at a loss.

Anyway, Tsuna didn't usually bother with the other students of her elementary school except for her usual five. Since she had such a small group of friends, she tended to notice when something was different.

Such as, for example, Kyouko not being there at the gate after class as she usually was, waiting for her brother.

Hana shrugged it off and left, which was fair because her mother generally got mad at her if she didn't report in for babysitting duty without warning. Takeshi was occupied with baseball as per usual.

So, it was just Tsuna.

She had a bad feeling about it. Given that she had little way of telling the difference between a 'my-schedule-has-been-interrupted-and-I'm-upset' bad feeling and a 'my-creepy-Hyper-Intuition-is-going-off' bad feeling, she listened to it and went looking for Kyouko. First she went back to their classroom, which was empty, and then checked the bathroom with the same results.

At a loss, Tsuna checked on Ryohei, who was in the boxing club even at this young age. The club was still going, and so she didn't interrupt, but as far as she could tell, Kyouko wasn't there either.

The bad feeling redoubled. Kyouko never left without her brother.

Tsuna went around checking the school grounds, but found nothing. Finally, she made her way back to find Ryohei, where the boxing club was now just finishing up. Tsuna slipped into the room, hurrying over to him.

“Oh, Tsuna! What's up?" Ryohei said.

"Do you know where Kyouko is?" Tsuna asked. "She wasn't at the gate where she usually waits."

Ryohei blinked. "No, I--" he froze. "NO! THOSE JERKS!"

He rushed off without an explanation. Tsuna sighed, but ran after him anyway. Unfortunately, given that Ryohei was the kind of madman who jogged every morning and Tsuna was not, he outpaced her pretty easily, but fortunately, he was easy to follow.

All she had to do was follow the cries of Kyouko's name.

Eventually, she caught up to him in an alleyway near Namimori High School. Ryohei was already embroiled in a fight with three boys wearing the high school uniform, while a fourth was standing to the side, holding onto Kyouko, who looked terrified but uninjured.

Well. Tsuna figured the proper course of action was obvious.

She flung herself at the boy holding Kyouko. Without jumping, Tsuna managed to reach just high enough to clip him in the jaw with a punch, and he released Kyouko and stumbled away with a surprisingly high-pitched yelp.

"Tsuna-chan!" Kyouko said.

Tsuna kicked one of his legs out from under them and then turned, hearing him fall to the ground behind her. Kyouko, the smart girl, had backed away to the mouth of the alleyway, out of danger. The boy Tsuna had knocked over wouldn't stay out of the fight, she knew, but she took the brief time it would take him to get back up and charged into Ryohei's one vs three battle.

They'd noticed her, unfortunately, and so she couldn't get a sneak attack, but she ducked past one's attempts to grab her and threw her weight into slamming elbow-first into his midsection, and he doubled over with a wheeze. While he was distracted, Tsuna raised her leg and kicked him where the sun don't shine. He whimpered, fell to the ground, curled up in the fetal position, and didn't move again.

The other boys converged on her, but Ryohei punched one in the side from behind, earning a shout, and they turned back. Tsuna turned just in time to dodge away from the fourth (now third) boy before he could grab her by the hair.

"You little brat," he said.

"You big bully," Tsuna said, and launched herself at his face.

The boy threw his arms up to protect the face with a shriek. Tsuna grabbed handfuls of his school vest and leveraged herself to knee him in the stomach, then, as she fell back down, inadvertently pulled him down with her. She landed on her feet, released her holds on his vest, and dodged out of the way as he faceplanted.

After jumping on his back just to hear him yelp again, Tsuna made her way back over to Ryohei, where he'd managed to get one of the boys to stay down. Tsuna flung herself onto the remaining high school student's back, grabbing him around the neck. He yelled and grabbed her arms, trying to pry her off. In doing so, he left himself open and Ryohei nailed him in the kidney.

The high school student crumpled with a whimper suspiciously similar to his friend's.

Breathing hard, Ryohei glanced around at the boys as if daring them to get back up. None of them did. Finally, he turned away and made his way over to Kyouko, who let out a sob and flung herself into his arms.

Tsuna followed out of range of the high school students, then shuffled and looked away awkwardly.

"Big Brother!" Kyouko sobbed out.

"Kyouko! I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Ryohei said.

She shook her head. "I'm okay, but Big Brother, you're hurt!"

Ryohei had a bit of drying blood coming from his nose and some trailing from his mouth, as well as what was probably going to be a beautiful black eye.

"What, this? This is nothing! I'm fine!" he laughed.

Kyouko looked doubtful, but then she apparently remembered Tsuna's existence and turned to her. "Oh! Tsuna-chan, are you okay? That was so scary when you jumped in!"

"I'm okay. They didn't even hit me," Tsuna said. None of those boys were even close to Hibari's level. "I'm glad both of you are okay."

"That was AWESOME, Tsuna! YOU WERE EXTREMELY COOL!" Ryohei said at top volume. Then, somewhat quieter, "I'm sorry you had to get involved!"

Tsuna shrugged. "Thanks, Ryohei-san. I don't really mind, though," she said.

Ryohei released Kyouko to loom over Tsuna, grabbing her by the shoulders. Tsuna looked at his hands, a little put out that he was getting blood on her.

"Tsuna! I want you to call me 'Big Brother' from now on!" Ryohei declared. "BECAUSE YOU'RE LIKE A SISTER TO ME!"

Tsuna blinked. "Um." She looked to Kyouko for help, who, much calmer now, just giggled. "I don't... think that's appropriate,"  Tsuna tried.

"CALL ME BIG BROTHER!" Ryohei said again.

Tsuna gave up. "Okay."

She was pretty sure Canon!Ryohei had done almost exactly the same thing to Canon!Tsuna. Maybe that was just one of those things that couldn't be changed? It wasn't like it really mattered, Tsuna supposed.

Tsuna was a pretty light sleeper. She hadn't always been, she knew; in her first life she'd sot of grown into it after being a sleep-like-the-dead sleeper as a child. In her second life, she'd somewhat learned how to sleep through things again as a baby and young child, and, again, grown out of it.

So she woke up when the front door slammed. As Tsuna was lying there wondering why the door would slam at a time like this (1:43 in the morning), she heard The Sound. Laughter. It wasn't such a strange thing, of course, except for the fact that ghostly laughter at 2am was pretty creepy. This wasn't creepy, though; she recognized it as her mother's laugh. Specifically, it was the way Nana laughed when Iemitsu was home.

This thought was worrying enough to have Tsuna slipping out of her room, to the top of the stairs. She stayed just around the corner out of sight of anyone looking up and listened.

Sure enough, there was Nana's voice, speaking in a contained murmur. Then a deeper baritone, recognizable as Iemitsu purely because it could be no one else. She certainly didn't recognize it because she heard it so often.

Tsuna huffed silently and made her way back to her room, flinging herself into bed, and tried not to sulk. It wasn't that she had anything against Iemitsu... Okay, that was a lie. She really didn't like him; she hadn't even liked him much as a character in her first life. Being in a world where he was a real person, and also a real absentee dad? She really didn't like him. And she hadn't even seen canon behavior like being drunk half the time he was home, yet.

Iemitsu just made it so easy.

The next morning, Tsuna dreaded going downstairs, knowing with certainty what she'd find. Nana would be glowing with happiness, dancing around the kitchen making breakfast while Iemitsu either waited patiently or distracted her repeatedly with literal dancing or any other variety of safe-to-have-the-nine-year-old-walk-in-on behavior. They would have a normal Japanese breakfast today for lack of ingredients, but later Nana would go shopping to get more exotic things to make breakfast from whichever country Iemitsu decided to claim he'd been in.

Tsuna was pretty sure that was part of their ongoing game of chicken, honestly, but she was so not going to get involved in it.

Whenever Tsuna relented and went downstairs, Iemitsu would greet her eagerly and expect her to reciprocate. Nana would quietly expect the same; she loved Iemitsu regardless of his absences, and it seemed she genuinely could not understand that Tsuna didn't feel the same way.

[insanescriptist]

So, what do you and Umei think is the main distinction between Sky and Earth Flames? And any ideas about how they came to be? Though they're source may differ depending on which fanfic'vsrse it's from, so for clarity I'm mostly asking about Black Sky and Xanxus' Adventures in Parenthood Piracy.

Well, there are differences between Black Sky and XAiPP; lots of Izzy’s wild theorizations of Flames first appear in XAiPP and were further refined over the next few years with Umei as Black Sky progressed. Izzy kinda needs to rework sections of XAiPP but Izzy would need some time to do it in and Izzy is generally pressed enough because work is always short-handed don’t ask which is good for Izzy’s paycheck but less so for Izzy’s stress levels and free-time. Please don’t ask about the customers, please don’t.

Now then, canonically Flames are Genetic. So how Flames came to be is Genetic.

Which means that having Earth Flames are Sky Flames is by genetics. But you can also test for Flames by some method that’s never explained beyond the ‘learning to spark Ring,’ or ‘obvious unique personality trait.’ The latter of which Izzy now considers less reliable; socialization, background and culture all matter, okay? Anon, please pester me again about updating my Flame Lore.

More to the point, there’s this rather giant plot hole called the Future Arc. Where Flames are a lot more common knowledge and studied. To the point that the wavelengths for the different Flames can be harnessed individually to power Boxes.

If I were a megolomanic, determined to re-write reality, then I’d want some unique troubleshooters being enforcers ie Earth Flames. That Byakuran didn’t -and man, what a missed foreshadow opportunity was that- means Byakuran either didn’t bother with them or had killed the Simon off. And also possible is that Verde and the other two scientist/engineers of the Box Weapon Trio never encountered Earth Flames despite lots of testing. And this is if you play the Future Arc/Saga straight as ‘true as depicted’ and not as something else.

Which either means that Earth Flames are ridiculously rare or that people don’t understand that they exist as separate Flames from the Sky Spectrum. Which is very plausible and likely to have happened in canon until the Simon came out and beat their faces in with evidence otherwise.

Izzy offers two pieces of evidence for Mafia Unawares

1. Wrath Flames

2. Fuuta’s manipulation of gravity

Now, there are only two people with Wrath Flames in KHR; as said before, you’re pretty much born with what you got because genetics are a bitch that way. Those two are Ricardo and Xanxus. Now we don’t actually know how Ricardo and Giotto are related but clearly Ricardo takes after the other side of the family since he’s not blond or Giotto hit the recessive lottery. We also don’t know how Xanxus is related to anybody outside of his mother but we do know he has red eyes.

You know who else ALL have red eyes? The Simon. Wrath Flames being a combination of Sky and a specific Earth Flame makes sense. Also Izzy would like to see more Xanxus and Simon interaction in the ‘how the hell are we related’ and obviously the ‘you can’t help who you’re related to’ and ‘who the fuck fathered such a bastard like you?’ Because Enma’s parents were murdered in Italy, so there was likely to be someone that Daemon helped into the grave that probably fathered Xanxus.

Not Storm, not Swamp but that unnamed Flame that Yamamoto’s fellow baseballer uses that gouges and almost kills Yamamoto? Yeah, that one. The one without a name, officially.

Disintegration at its base is separating molecular bonds by adding energy; basically, setting it on fire. Those sort of gouges in the locker room in both living and nonliving objects without a physical direction to create all of them?

…

Yeah, that’s not Disintegration but it is a whole lot cleaner and faster than Disintegration and also of a much wider area; that old hunter’s adage of one shot, they got it, two shots they’re putting it out of its misery and three shots is them hitting air? That locker room was a mess and it was quick; the mess would have been far worse if Yamamoto had fought back and a lot more spread out if he tried to run. Yamamoto got hit with the Flame-equivilant of buckshot. Buckshot that rips holes in people and things like the magic-bullet it is.

Still, most people in the mafia go ‘you have to be born with it,’ or ‘it’s a special mix of Flames.’ Which yes, it is, but probably not Storm Flames. It’d leave different marks. Compare Xanxus vaporizing a classroom in an instant to how a Storm’s Flames have to ‘eat’ through things.

Now Fuuta’s manipulation of gravity is just a ‘quirk’ of him using his Ranking Powers, according to the manga. Which isn’t as accurate on Rainy Days, for some inexplicable reason. According the the manga.

Or it is, because for all that Earth is said to be ‘Gravity’ what it really is, is Playing with Magnetic Fields and Charges. Because as Magneto, magnet trains and rail guns prove, magnetic fields and charges can lift ‘objects.’ Especially if they’re conductive. And the human body is a conductor and people can ‘feel’ strong enough magnetic forces.

Now Fuuta ranks people, so he has to get that data from somewhere. Fuuta says it’s a ‘ranking planet’ but really, he’s a kid; he doesn’t know for sure and he can’t remember the data after a ranking if he doesn’t write it down. What’s more likely is that Fuuta is using Earth’s magnetic field to pass ‘data’ on to him, which is then processed in an Altered State of Mind and then organized into ‘ranks.’

Altered States of Mind effecting memories is a known thing. Basically it’s the ‘when you’re sober you don’t remember it but you do once you’re drunk again.’ Or high. Or sleep-deprived. Basically if it’s not your normal state, due to pain meds or whatever, you’re not going to be likely to remember it because your brain put it somewhere strange. But once you’re off your rocker again, brain remembers where it put it, because guess where it’s going to put new memories? Strange place again.

Now Fuuta’s ‘requirements’ for a Ranking are a little strange. He has to have met the person he’s ‘ranking’ to do them. Basically, Fuuta’s learning your own specific ‘magnetic aura’ to have something to compare to. And he can do so rapidly and accurately forever afters. No matter in terms of strength, wealth, intelligence or personality.

Fuuta’s a little scary like that, okay? Fuuta’s hacking the earth for all your files. Fuuta’s lack of accuracy when it rains is because the rain is washing out all those ions in the atmosphere; those same ions he’s using to transmit data around the world. It’s why Fuuta can even tell it’s raining when he’s in a windowless underground bunker. He basically gets hit with radio static and Lag.

As TYL!Fuuta goes out and about with Bianchi without a Flame Ring to protect himself with in a ‘future’ where even the lower-ranking ‘enemy officers’ have Boxes and Flames… it either says that Fuuta’s relying on Bianchi entirely for protection or that Fuuta has his own methods despite the lack of Ring and Box. Not that Fuuta ever fought, but it’d be interesting to see how he’d do so. Because not learning how is just Stupid, especially when the Vongola are being hunted down and you know it.

TL;DR - the mafia’s aware that some individuals have Odd Flames. They’re just not aware enough to both realize and weaponize it beyond an individual and personal basis ie X-guns Xanxus made for self compared to Bester’s roar of Box Animal made by Verde. So they don’t realize the Earth Spectrum exists except as Odd Flame/Quirk/some unexplained Flame Thing due to odd wavelength which varies between people anyway. This is XAiPP’s perspective because the wavelengths are there-ish, but the science is still shaky on the exact differences; mostly due to lack of study but also because rarity. Again, Byakuran didn’t use/bother with Earth Flames so is stupidly rare.

…

Which is something that is both canon and that Black Sky supports.

Black Sky however explains the difference.

You know that old elements diagram? The Greek one? Have a stylized one, from an image that Izzy picked from a google search.

Basically, Sky Flames are air-natured, and Earth Flames are earth-natured; hence the names because Sky sounds better than Air. Individual Flames can be found along this spectrum with a bit of common sense and thinking.

Izzy and Umei have discussed where exactly each would fall, but it’s pretty much common sense.

Like Storm is most Fire, Rain is most Water and Lightning is most Air. Sun and Sky fall on the Fire side while Mist and Cloud fall on the Water side. Or something to that effect; you can quibble on the placement on the Fire-side of Air and which is Most Air without much issue beyond someone’s say-so. Izzy’s just saying that Lightning is Most Air because one of the main theories of How to Make Lightning is that it’s oppositely charged particles in the air. Therefore is least ‘dense.’ Or why Lightning’s property of Hardness makes no sense as it is not physical itself but why it makes good sense in a shield so long as you don’t overload it.

On the Earth Side of things, Earth is Most Earth. Glacier, Swamp and Forest would be on the Water Side and Desert, officially unnamed Flame and Mountain on the Fire side.

Now, since this isn’t really a spoiler… a lot of magical enclaves have more Earth-spectrum individuals because genetics influence Flames. A smaller gene-pool means less of a chance of traits ie Earth Flames being bred out of said gene-pool.

Now Izzy is going to look over the chapter Umei just sent and go to bed. It’s like four am and Izzy has plans for once she gets up. Plans that do not involve work for once.

[bleachlists]

How the captains would react (if their lieutenants quit)

As requested by anon. :)

Previously on Bleach Lists, we considered what would happen if the captains fired their lieutenants. But what if the lieutenants…quit? How would the captains react then?

1. Squad 13

Rukia: Captain, I can no longer be your lieutenant.

Ukitake: I understand.

Ukitake: You need to go to the world of the living, where you belong.

Ukitake: I was there, you know, when you trained Orihime Inoue.

Ukitake: I know she is your true love.

Ukitake: Go to her, Kuchiki, go to her!!

Rukia: …

Rukia: So, uh, I got offered a captainship…

Ukitake: …

Ukitake: Can we go back like ten seconds?

Rukia: How long have you been shipping us??

2. Squad 2

Omaeda: Uh, Captain, you know how my sister got hurt during the Quincy invasion?

Soi Fon: Yes. I recall.

Omaeda: It, uh, kinda makes you think, you know? About what’s important?

Soi Fon: I do not need to hear your personal journey, Omaeda.

Soi Fon: If you have decided to actually commit yourself to this squad, then do it. Otherwise, I don’t care.

Omaeda: What if it made me want to quit?

Soi Fon: Then I would kill you. Nobody quits Squad 2 alive.

Soi Fon: So do you have something to say?

Omaeda: No?

Soi Fon: ….

Soi Fon: So close.

3. Squad 3

Kira: Captain Otoribashi, I will be leaving your squad at the end of this week.

Rose: Izuru, why??

Kira: I am an undead zombie monstrosity with a permanent hole through my torso, and the underlings weep when they look at me.

Rose: Only for the first couple of days!

Rose: And I still say, if you let me decorate your horrible torso rods with brightly colored flags…

Kira: …

Rose: Right. Maybe you’ve earned a break.

4. Squad 12

Nemu: Captain, I would like to quit.

Kurotsuchi: Nobody cares what you want, you dolt. Now drink your poison.

Nemu: …

Nemu: Maybe this is why Nanao says we need a union.

5. Squad 5

Hinamori: Captain, I have decided to quit the Gotei-13.

Shinji: Very funny, you idiot.

Shinji: Make jokes like that, and you might end up in the Maggot’s Nest, which is occasionally canon!

Hinamori: I’m not joking, Captain.

Shinji: You’re not?

Shinji: Man, I have the worst luck with lieutenants.

Hinamori: DID YOU JUST COMPARE ME TO AIZEN?!

6. Squad 10

Matsumoto: Captain, I quit!

Hitsugaya: I do not accept.

Matsumoto: What? You can’t just not accept my resignation, Captain!

Hitsugaya: Yes, I can.

Hitsugaya: I don’t accept it.

Hitsugaya: You know, you could just ask for time off if there is a big sale in the human world or something!

Matsumoto: You’d give me time off for shopping??

Hitsugaya: NO

Matsumoto: See? Maybe this is why I want to quit!

Hitsugaya: JUST DO YOUR PAPERWORK

7. Squad 11

Yachiru: Ken-chan, I’m not gonna be a lieutenant anymore!

Kenpachi: Yeah?

Kenpachi: Okay.

Kenpachi: What are we going to do now, then?

Kenpachi: Look for stronger people to fight?

Yachiru: Sure!

Kenpachi: Sounds about right, for us.

8. Squad 4

Isane: Um, Captain Unohana?

Isane: I, uh, need to talk to you about something. I’ve….decided to quit the Gotei-13.

Unohana: Is that so, Isane?

Unohana: I understand.

Unohana: It is time for your murder phase. I had long seen it coming.

Isane: N-not everyone has a murder phase, Captain!

Unohana: Don’t be embarrassed, Isane. It is part of growing up.

Isane: C-Captain!

9. Squad 9 (Mashiro)

Mashiro: Kensei, I QUIT!

Kensei: You don’t even know what that means, idiot.

Mashiro: Yes I do!!!! It means I’m done following you!!!

Kensei: Whatever happened to “a lieutenant always followers her captain”??

Mashiro: That’s why I’m quitting!

Kensei: FINE

Mashiro: FINE

Kensei: THANK GOODNESS I WON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU

Mashiro: LIKE YOU CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT ME

Hisagi: It’s like watching your parents divorce.

10. Squad 9 (Hisagi)

Hisagi: …and that is why, Captain, I need to leave your command.

Kensei: Shuhei, don’t be an idiot.

Kensei: You have our squad number TATTOOED ON YOUR FACE

Kensei: What are you gonna do, porn??

Hisagi: Well…

Kensei: NO SHUHEI

11. Squad 1

Sasakibe: Head Captain, I am afraid I must tender my resignation.

Yamamoto: Are you…are you SERIOUS?!

Yamamoto: I tried to promote you like 1000 times!

Sasakibe: I-I couldn’t take a promotion, Head Captain! It would have felt disloyal!

Yamamoto: But quitting isn’t?!

Sasakibe: …

Sasakibe: I’m a complicated guy.

12. Squad 8

Nanao: Captain, this is my three week’s notice. 

Kyoraku: Notice until what?

Nanao: Until I will be quitting.

Kyoraku: Q-quitting, Nanao-chan??

Kyoraku: Please don’t quit, my lovely beautiful lieutenant flower!

Kyoraku: Is this because I drink too much? Because of all the naps? Because I accidentally used your report as a coaster?

Nanao: You did WHAT to my report?

Kyoraku: See? How will I survive without that cruel, harsh look, Nanao-chan?

Nanao: …it’s going to be a long three weeks.

13. Squad 6

Renji: Captain, I am quitting!

Byakuya: Renji, you should leave the jokes to me.

Renji: This is not a joke, Captain. I am quitting.

Byakuya: You cannot quit, Renji. This is the Gotei-13.

Renji: Y-your last lieutenant quit! 

Byakuya: He had a very good reason.

Renji: He opened a sunglasses shop!

Byakuya: Are you suggested that sunglasses are not a good reason? Are you, Renji?

Renji: …

Renji: This went very differently in my head.

14. Squad 9

Iba: Captain, I need to speak with you!

Iba: I want you to know, Captain, that being your lieutenant has been fantastic.

Iba: I grew as a soldier and as a person.

Iba: Your courage and honestly and loyalty always inspired me!

Iba: And I could not have served a better man!

Iba: But I can no longer be your lieutenant.

Puppy Komamura: Wuff?

Iba: …

Iba: I think you need a friend, instead.

[queenharumiura]

[Just for the hell of it. Wanted to do it with someone else jokingly but...then I realized it would not be cool xD] (Yamamoto)    𝑲𝑰𝑺𝑺  ﹠ ᵀᴱᴸᴸ A kiss shared during a game  ( truth or dare ,  spin the bottle ,  etc ) .

Taken from meme: [x] ||Accepting||  Kekekek I mean you're always free to do/send whatever. Most of these i'll be writing for fun anyways. No way canon

Readmore because I apparently love to write a lot for more drabble-esque memes LOLOLOL

The Vongola sure has some weird traditions and games. Haru is listening to the instructions, and she can’t help but think… that there is some kind of motive here. You’re trying to convince her that some scary, burly mafia guys have played this game historically? For points?

Press X to doubt.

Every single year, Reborn would come up with some new game that he attests was played in the olden Vongola days. Impression competitions for birthdays, New Years games like kurata and grabbing fortunes out of a gator’s mouth?

Maybe the gator- but Kurata? She strongly doubts the validity that they played such a game in Italy. Then again—maybe it was a game introduced by Asari-san?

… There’s no way this game was introduced by Asari-san though.

It was another race, to see which team could move the most number of cards from point a to point b. At no point was the card allowed to touch the floor, and you couldn’t use your hands. Teams had time to discuss among themselves to figure what their gameplan was going to be.

‘Isn’t this just the fanservice game to make it look like people are kissing each other?’ She looks at Reborn dubiously, sincerely doubting this was a true Vongola game. You can’t fool her! Look at the way he’s avoiding her gaze!

Everyone had to pick from a hat to determine if you joined the game or sat out. The Cavallone team seemingly had worse luck as most of their members had to play, but Haru suspected that it wasn’t necessarily the case that having less people on your team would make it easier for you.

The Vongola team consisted of Gokudera, Ryohei, Yamamoto, Haru, and Lambo. Just the lineup alone made Haru think that this couldn’t end well. They spent the majority of the time discussing the order (mostly because Lambo was being a menace).

With only less than a minute to spare, they had to quickly decide on a strategy.

“Hey, I’ve seen a game like this before. You just have to suck the card using your mouth and transfer it to the next person.” Ryohei had seen it on TV before. As much as the idea sent shivers of disgust down his spine, he wanted to win.

No man goes into battle with the thought of losing!

“Times up. Get to your places.”

The order went Gokudera, Ryohei, Yamamoto, Haru, and Lambo as the final lynchpin. No one wanted to trust Lambo with going first, and they feared that he’d drop the card if he was placed anywhere in the middle.

All they could do was bank on the hope that even if he dropped the card at the end, he did so on top of the designated spot.

Reborn rings the gong to start the race, and the tensions were high as both teams wanted to win. The loser at the end of the day has to pay a fee, after all! How mafia-like, isn’t it?

Haru thought about it once Yamamoto received the card from Ryohei: was their height difference going to be an issue?

Most people when playing this game tried to keep their heads upright, facing the sky to prevent the card from falling, but Yamamoto couldn’t do that if he wanted to pass the card off to her.

Haru is what you call… vertically challenged. (translation: short)

Ryohei and Gokudera were of similar height, so the hand off wasn’t too difficult, but between Yamamoto and Haru—just a bit more difficult.

They stood there, frozen for a moment as they both moved, trying to figure a position that worked. Haru places a hand on Yamamoto’s arm to stop him from moving so much, tugging on his sleeve to direct him to lean forward- just enough for her to reach with her tippy toes.

The two meet in the middle, in the process of making the hand off, and Haru retrieves the card, and she lets him know by patting his arm. Just as they are parting, “Haru! You’re taking too long, hurry up!”

The impatient child leaps onto Haru, taking her by surprise. She drops the card from her surprise and she loses her balance from Lambo jumping onto her back. She falls forward, and feels someone catching her to steady her onto her feet.

She’s grateful for this, but she also feels something else. Her eyes go wide as she realizes that because of their faces already being so close to each other, when she stumbled, her lips fell right into Yamamoto’s.

The Vongola side of the room goes quiet in shock. That is, until—“HAHI! Ha-Ha-Haru is so sorry!” The brunette squeals. “Lambo! You can’t do that, it’s dangerous!” She has to raise a complaint with the one who made this happen.

Haru drops to the ground, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. “Wait, Aho-onna! Get back up! We’re in the middle of a competition!”

After a minute, Haru did get back up to try again, mostly thanks to Lambo shaking her, telling her that he wanted to have his turn in the game. He was the all important lynchpin! He has to shine and bring their side the victory!

The game resumes and they try again, but once Yamamoto has the card, Haru can’t forget what just happened- going completely red in the face. “Sorry! Haru can’t do it!” She drops to the ground again and covers her face with her hands.

It was too soon for her to have calmed her heart! Go on without her!

Needless to say, the game ended with the Vongola team being unable to do anything.

“Cavallone team: 6 cards! Vongola team… a depressing 0 cards.” Reborn announces the results of the competition. The agonizing wails of two competitive dolts rings in the background and cue Haru yelling at Gokudera to shut up. Kyoko instead takes to comforting her brother, telling him it’s okay that they lost. They’ll win the next one!

A fight breaks out between the Haru and Gokudera, as per usual. It was basically a daily occurrence between them.

Convenient, really, since she didn’t know how to face Yamamoto after that. What better way to avoid an awkward situation? Fight with your local angry boi!

“Amateurs, you can’t use your hands, but you can use everything else. If you pick up the card by using the tip of your tongue to pick up the corner of the card, you lean it up against your wrist. Pick it up with your teeth from there and transfer between your teammates by grabbing the card with your teeth.” Dino explains, being the dutiful older brother type character that he is.

That only makes Gokudera explode. If they had more time to strategize, they could’ve thought of that too!