Chapter Text
Reborn didn’t expect anything from his new student. The information of Sawada Terumi was no different from Dino in the past: clumsy, timid, mildly antisocial, and unambitious. Seeing from the info, the nickname Dame-Terumi seemed reasonable. Still, Rebrn, who could teach Dino and make him become a decent boss, was a miracle worker. Teaching a little girl from a small town in Japan to become a Vongola princess wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Her routine wasn't different from other average students – I mean, the average students who had low grades and no extracurricular activities. She woke up, had breakfast, and left for school. She had her lunch alone during lunch break. So plain. Reborn decided to meet the Sawada family on the next day.
Their first impression was good. Reborn wasn’t laughed at like what he had been with people outside the underground world. However, it wasn’t like they didn’t notice anything, Terumi was frowning.
“If you’re a tutor like you said, we might have to accept that. Nice to meet you, then.” Terumi bowed down a bit before standing up, “well, let’s talk about details later. I’m almost late.”
Late? For what? Reborn asked internally. His gaze followed Terumi who brought up her bag and ran out of her house.
“Mi-chan, what a silly girl. Kyoya-kun already told her he’s back to practice today, and she still forgot her shoes.” Nana muttered.
Reborn frowned, hurriedly following Terumi soon after Nana went back to the kitchen.
“Why are you late?” Kyoya asked. Terumi avoided his eyes. No matter how long she had known him, Kyoya outside the dancing floor was still intimidating.
“I forgot my shoes at home.” She sighed. “Don’t want to leave my shoes in my locker, too risky as someone might find out.”
“Just get inside.”
After getting in, they both went separate to change their outfit. Terumi finished first so she went out and warmed up while waiting for Kyoya. High heels were put next to her while she was stretching before practice. During stretching, Kyoya got out of the changing room.
Kyoya was wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants for practice. Everything about him was black from his head to toe, making his light skin look brighter, being a prince like others from outside Namimori said – even though Terumi thought he was more like a vampire, seriously, what of him was like a prince? His appearance? Personality? She would never understand..
While he was wearing all black, it didn’t matter what Terumi wore, she was always his opposite. Today she chose to wear an orange camisole and a long, white skirt. With her worn-out gold heels, Terumi felt safer every time she practiced — also true with her partner.
“I think,” Kyoya started talking, “we should start finding your dress for the next season now, or else it would be too rushed like last year.”
“W-well… Those dresses didn’t feel like it.” Terumi scratched her blushing cheek. That was one of her bad habits, and she could never fix it. Terumi’s feeling always dominated when she needed to choose her dress, sometimes it was just a minute before the competition.
“Explore your feelings, won’t you,” Kyoya said, “that’s why you know so little about yourself. Just listen to yourself, not those useless herbivores.”
“I’m not strong like you. Being belittled by everyone, how could I become confident?” Terumi sighed, changing her pose to spreading legs, bending her torso to the front.
“No one outside Namimori knows you. Who you are out there is who you actually are, not what others tell you.” Kyoya sat behind her, leaning on his back to help put more weight on her. “Believe in yourself like when you are with me.”
Terumi stopped speaking. Not that what she said would change his mind. Kyoya was right, though Terumi was too scared to stand up for herself in Namimori middle school. Her ‘Dame’ persona wasn’t that easy to erase from everyone’s minds. Revealing her shining personality wouldn’t do any good for her.
“Put that aside, let’s practice.” Kyoya said. Terumi hurriedly wore her shoes and stood up.
Kyoya offered her his left hand, while the other was holding her waist. They put their weight on one foot.
Bring the right foot in, Terumi thought. And back.
Sawada Terumi had known Hibari Kyoya since they were both in elementary school. She was just a clumsy girl who couldn’t do anything good. Her classmates always bullied her, causing her didn’t want to go to school. One day, Kyoya rescued her from a group of bullies, saying that it would disturb the peace of Namimori.
Another turning point is when Terumi hit one of the bullies with a branch she found nearby before they could harm Kyoya. The result is all of their parents were called – except Kyoya who could get away every time, of course – their teacher punished Terumi for her aggressive behavior towards her classmates. (What about while they did it to her? Where were they? Why didn’t they stop them?) Nana was worried. Even though she didn’t quite believe what happened, she thought there must be a reason behind it, but her daughter didn’t utter a word.
Terumi refused to speak about it. Not that her mother would be any help in this situation. She would just move her to a new school, and Terumi didn’t want to get separated from her very first friend like Kyoya.
Summer camp the teacher sent her helped her find a new hobby – ballroom dancing. The feeling when she stood on the dance floor surrounded by music made her feel free. It was like she could show everyone who she really was.
After the camp, Terumi asked her mom to send her to dancing school. Nana had no problem with her daughter finding her goal – maybe it wouldn’t stick too long anyway. However, ballroom dancing wasn’t an activity you could do alone. Terumi also didn’t get along with people really well. The only person she could call friend was Hibari Kyoya.
Nana was worried again, this time that Kyoya might not agree with going to dancing class with Terumi. Boys most likely think it was too girly. They didn’t know what made him agree with them. He started dancing with Terumi and attending competitions with her at all local and national levels.
Until now, Hibari Kyoya and Sawada Terumi were both quite famous outside Namimori as new blackhorse dancers. Medals and trophies were put on shelves at their dancing studio. Their future as pro dancers weren’t far from their reach.
Sawada Terumi and Hibari Kyoya’s meeting point wasn’t what he expected: a dancing studio! Who would have thought. But the question was why they needed to meet here. Hibari’s information he’d got was just that the boy was the head delinquent of Namimori, both school and the town. He loved his school to death. He also always seeked a strong opponent to surpass them.
But at a dancing studio? With Terumi?
Reborn jumped quietly through a small window. He lost his words when he saw them inside.
Soft beats of the waltz brought the imagination of fairytale. Terumi and Hibari became princess and prince in a royal ballroom while moving along the dance floor.
He should get that from the start. What a dancing studio was for except for dancing? He shouldn’t judge Terumi by just the little information of her he got.
(However, who would have thought Hibari danced, it wasn’t like it was popular among boys.)
Terumi in Hibari’s arms seemed brighter than usual. Her long hair was tied up into a ponytail, showing her pretty face. Her figure wasn’t small and timid, either.
What Reborn saw confirmed that, in truth, Terumi was suited for the boss position. Just waited until he pushed her to show her potential in front of everyone…
“Who are you? Why are you here?” Hibari asked coldly, he pushed Terumi to hide behind him, protecting her completely.
“W-wait, Kyoya! It’s alright. He’s my home tutor. I need him because my grades are bad.” Terumi shrieked, holding Hibari’s arm tightly. “I-if you bite him to death, how can I be better in class? You said it yourself that I need to get my grade up!”
Hibari looked back at her, irritation showing on his face and backing off. He took a sip of water, leaving Terumi to deal with the baby. She sighed and went back to talk to Reborn, “Why did you follow me?”
“To be your tutor, I need to know my student,” He said. “You were like a different person for a while there.”
Terumi blushed, “Because every time I’m on the floor, no one judges me like when I’m at school. No one knows me as a No-good. I am Sawada Terumi, the dancer and Hibari Kyoya’s partner. That’s where I can be free.”
Reborn pushed his hat down a bit. Terumi’s bond with dancing might cause more problems than he thought.
“Actually,” Reborn started, “I’m not here just for tutoring her with school subjects.”
Terumi tilted her head. Hibari frowned, looking at those two who sat down on the floor. “Except for academic stuff, what could you be here for?”
The baby hitman’s corner mouth went down, “I was ordered to train Terumi to become the tenth boss of Vongola Famiglia.”
After that, Hibari ran to him with tonfa in his hands.
“You… What do you mean I am to become a mafia boss?” Terumi asked, her voice shaking, she kept glancing at Kyoya from the other side of the room.
“Like I said, the Ninth is old. He needs a successor but his sons, all three of them, aren't alive anymore.” Reborn showed three pictures to them. Terumi brought them to look closer before covering them with her hands. “From the founder’s bloodline through your father, you’re the last heir living.”
Terumi’s head hung down, staring at her hands on her lap. Mafia, damn it. She had to leave her peaceful life and her favourite hobby and inherit an underworld throne that she hadn’t never been involved in, all of this just from her father’s bloodline.
The father who was never home.
The father who never knew her.
The father who she never knew was alive or dead.
Even when he wasn’t here, he still had a great impact on her life.
“You think you can just walk in and demand anything from her?” Kyoya growled at the tutor, “Did you know how much responsibility Sawada Terumi is holding right now? All of those-” He pointed at their trophies and medals on the shelves, they all were from all of their competitions they had attended. Reborn’s gaze followed his hand. “-are from her efforts, from my time I devoted to her, not you herbivorous, foreign criminal.”
“Not that I don’t understand, but we have no choice, either.” Reborn tilted his hat down. “If Vongola is to doom with no heir, the underworld must be in chaos. You guys wouldn’t be able to live peacefully.”
“I won’t let Sawada Terumi throw away her efforts for something like this. What you are trying to do will destroy what she has built for herself.”
Terumi sighed, leaving them arguing while she re thought. She didn’t think she could go far with dancing and join international competitions. However, she only danced all her life, leaving that for what she didn’t understand was way too much.
What should she do now?