It started out as a normal day for Tsunayoshi Sawada. He completed his school work after breakfast and helped his mother around the house. Studied mafia history under Reborn before the tutor had him do some exercises approved of by his doctor. Wondered around town and meeting up with the few friends he was able to make.
It was late in the afternoon and Tsuna was helping his mother with the laundry, taking it off the cloths line and folding it before placing it in the laundry basket at his feet. Nana noticed immediately when her son suddenly stopped listening to her and clutched his head, dropping the sheets he was holding. Dropping the clothes she was holding, Nana ran to her son’s side, “Tsuna?”
He whimpered leaning into her hold instead of away like usual, eyes screwed shut as Tsuna curled up in on himself, “Mom…it hurts..”
“What hurts?! Tsuna!” She screamed when her teenage son collasped in her arms, dark trails of red sipping down his cheeks, “TSUNA!”
It was hours later before Nana came back to herself. She recalled in bits and pieces that her shouting drawing the attention of her neighbors who immediately called for an ambulance. Her being drug away from her baby boy as the paramedics loaded her onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. Before they had to sedate her as she fought to get to her baby’s side. Immediately the mother sat up seeing the familiar walls of the hospital before looking around frantically for her son, “Tsuna!”
“Calm down, Mrs. Sawada,” came the calming familiar voice of her son’s doctor, Dr. Light. She looked to the young doctor with panic written on her face, “Is he okay?”
“There is some good and bad news,” the young doctor sighed pushing up his glasses, “Tsunayoshi-kun is stable for now and resting, which is the good news.”
“And the bad?” Nana asked fearing the worst, knowing something was wrong when Dr. Light hesitated before replying, “Your son will never see again..”
“How…why!”
“His condition has progressed to the point that the blood vessels in his eyes started to freeze to the point they burst under the pressure of the veins trying to pump blood through them. All of them burst…the ice shards tore through his cornea, pupil, iris, and lens. Competently destroying them. From what we could tell from the scans and examination of his eyes, the rest was frozen solid. There is nothing we can do to save his eyes, and due to his condition we can not do a transplant as the same would happen again and could kill him from the trauma.”
——————-
Tsuna gripped the sheets of his hospital bed as he took in what the doctor told him after he awoke and couldn’t see or move his eyes. Bandages were wrapped around the upper part of his face, covering where his eyes used to be. To keep the freeze from spreading, the doctor had to remove his eyes so it wouldn’t spread to his brain from his optic nerves.
For the first time in his life he wished to cry and scream and plead. Why did this have to happen to him! What did he do to deserve this fate!
Reborn tilted his fedora down ward to hide his grimace as Nana helped Tsunayoshi into the house. He had been working with Nono on a way to slowly unseal the teen so that the rush of flames wouldn’t send him into shock and kill him. Now, now they may just be too late. Tsuna’s condition was getting worse. The boy would have to relearn everything to live comfortably and he would have to find a way to teach the teen how to protect himself. Reborn wondered how he was going to explain this to Nono.
He needed to call Shamal and see if the doctor knew anything about the effects of flame sealing. Reborn needed to contact Fon to ask if the other would help him train Tsuna among other things. The hitman was ready to go and shot Iemitsu for being a fucking idiot and asking Nono to seal his son’s flames in the first place without knowing what all would happen. Because of that idiot’s choice, his son’s body was a walking time bomb and he could be dead at the age 14!
The infant hitman gritted his teeth as he observed the silent teen as Tsuna sat on the living room couch. He jumped into the boy’s lap to offer his silent support not caring for the cold and keeping his flames under tight control so not to hurt Tsuna on top of everything. Reborn let the boy pull him into a loose hug as Tsuna’s shoulders started to shake as he cried silently, “Reborn, what will happen now?”
He stayed silent because for the first time in a long time the World’s Greatest Hitman wasn’t sure what to do.Â
“What will Haru and Kyoko think?” he whimpered thinking of his two friends and his new ones, “And my new friends...what if they all leave me?” For the first time, Tsuna was feeling an emotion at it’s fullest, and that emotion was despair.Â
Reborn gently pat a gloved hand, “They will not leave you, Tsuna. I am sure of it.” He had a feeling that those kids wouldn’t leave his charge. No, they were good for Tsuna, helping the teen reconnect with his emotions and helping him begin the steps of healing. Now, Tsuna would need them more then anything.Â
