Reincarnated and Transferred

Age 12 Wheels turning Part 3

"So how'd you get a tutor for yourself, Tuna?" Kou asked the brunette, as he came out of the bathroom, changed. He found himself liking the fact of comfortable khaki shorts and T-shirts much better than a dress.

"Would you please stop calling me that now?" Tsuna whined, pleading with the other.

Kou raised a brow. "Has Reborn taught you to whine like that?"

"Don't change the subject!"

Kou laughed out rightly. "Haha! Sorry, I really can't help but tease you in that sense!"

"Sheesh! At least you're not breaking down and all," Tsuna muttered, half cross.

"Honestly, that part of you won't change will it?" Kou countered, sending a partial glare at the other.

Tsuna gained a smirk, making Kou do a double check on what he was actually seeing. Unfortunately for him, he was not hallucinating his best friend smirking like the devil himself, but before he could ponder on the thought longer, Tsuna spoke up. "It won't ever change, Kou-kun~"

The said male shivered. "Okay... Now that is a seriously weird side of you Tsuna. Where'd you get this kind of personality?"

Tsuna shrugged. "I guess his sadistic side is starting to rub off on me,"

"Should I take that as him teaching you S&M?" Kou received a pillow in his face.

"Very funny!" Tsuna growled. "Reborn doesn't teach those things, instead he's got his head filled with bone-breaking regiments for me to go through! In a single day!"

"Regiments? Are you trying out for a sport, Tsuna?" The brunette frowned, rubbing his nose slightly. His thoughts swirling on the slightly hard pillow in utter confusion. "Baseball? Boxing? Tennis?"

"It's not for a sport either! It's—" Kou looked up in time to see the conflicted emotion on his childhood friend's face. It piqued his interest.

"It's?" He pushed on.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Tsuna shook his head.

Kou wanted to press on, but held back. Partially for the reason that the phone's ringing broke through. He gave a silent sigh, heading out of the room. "I'll go get it."

Making his way down, he didn't see how Tsuna's posture heaved with relief. He sped up, nearly flying on the staircase when landing on the ground. Making a sharp turn to the living room, he allowed his sense of nostalgic familiarity wash over him. Though he didn't waste much time in locating the house phone. Snatching it up he hit the talk button; swinging the receiver to his ear. "Kage household, Kou speaking,"

"Oh my god! Someone finally picked up!" There was shuffling at the other end before the person was back on the line. "Kou-chan! You have no idea how worried I was! Nobody was picking up the phone, and your mother's cell was located at the bottom of a riverbed! I was seriously close to hyperventilating! Hello? Are you still there, Kou-chan?"

The said brunette scrunched up his nose in a thoughtful manner. "I'm sorry, but who are you again?"

There was a loud gasp on the other end, making the brunette think that the person was right behind him rather than the receiving end. "How could you do this to me? Your favorite Auntie Mae! Kou-chan, that really hurt, the wound is already squeezing! Oh my, I think I'm going faint!"

The supposed aunt of the young teen kept on rambling on and on, about how painful it was to be forgotten. Kou closed his eyes, his face tugging down into a frown. This was seriously going to be a huge hassle to get out of. The teen sighed, just how was he supposed to get out of this one?

Meanwhile, upstairs, Tsuna held his face in his hands. He couldn't believe he slipped about the Mafia, but he had sworn not to tell Kou! Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tsuna gave a sigh. Apparently it was much harder than the thought seemed at first, he just hoped that neither Gokudera and Yamamoto would slip, when they meet him... He blanched. Reborn was currently on that list too! Letting out a groan, Tsuna dropped his head back onto his hands. So far the only small connection that he was sure that Kou had come in contact with was with— His eyes widened with the realization that Shamal was painstakingly from the Mafia, leading to the fact that Kou had been in contact with him more than necessary, if the fact that it was in the past didn't have a hold on the situation.

"Great," Tsuna muttered. "the number of people that I have to keep away from Kou has increased!"

"Keep who away from me?" Tsuna jolted upright, nearly shrieking from the ungodly surprise.

He whipped his head towards the door, finding that it hadn't been anyone other than the resident of the house he had come to visit. "K-Kou?"

"Do I look like some cheap imitator?" The other brunette sighed, coming inside the room, and plopping himself down on the bed. "So who are these people that I need to stay away from?"

"What happened to the phone call?" He needed to avoid the current subject as much as possible, it had a slim chance in doing so, but it was worth it.

Kou stayed quiet, as if he were evaluating on whether to spite the other and demand an answer, or to just let it slide. The pause was pretty long, but it thankfully came to an end, when the older of the two broke it. "I said a few words, then hung up,"

"You what?" Tsuna turned wide-eyed at the statement. "You can't just hang up on someone like that! It's rude to the other!"

"Hold on! Geez, I made sure they understood that I was busy," Kou gave a small glare at the other. "I'm not that bad mannered."

"But still, just chatting them up for a while is not such a bad thing," Tsuna muttered, looking away.

It was quiet for another moment before Kou dropped the bomb again. "So now you answer my question, who is it that you need to keep me from?"

"No one," Tsuna answered.

"I'm sure you haven't gone senile, Tuna," Kou rolled his eyes.

"I haven't, and you heard wrong," Tsuna retorted.

"My hearing hasn't rotted so bad to mishear someone muttering to themselves." Kou rolled over, allowing his back to face the brunette. "So you can skip all the excuses and spill what you're hiding,"

Tsuna but his lip, trying to figure out ways on how he was going to avoid such a topic. He decided that he would remain stubborn. "You must have heard wrong then, after all no ones ever that good."

"..." Tsuna started fidgeting, making sure to not allow the other to catch wind of his uncomfortable state. Reborn did say something about others exploiting weaknesses if they weren't guarded correctly. His thoughts paused, mentally frowning at how he had unconsciously pinned Kou as such a kind of person. Shaking off the thoughts, he continued his streak of stubbornness. "I'm entitled with the right to keep silent, so it's not any of your business on what you think I might have said."

"Suit yourself," Kou heaved himself off from the bed, getting up after a moments pause. "I'll keep to myself, so don't start complaining on my behaviour."

Tsuna frowned. "What do you mean?"

Kou didn't reply, instead he headed out of the room, calling behind his shoulder. "Let's head back, Tsunayoshi, I promised your mom that I'd be there for dinner tonight."

Maybe he misheard wrong, or maybe it was a trick that his ears were playing on him. But his suspicions were kept on what the other brunette meant. And maybe it would all just pass over soon. However, his gut told him that it would be a long time before everything passed.