Fiamma & Famiglia - Chapter 6

Tsuna woke, feeling the comfortable spring of a mattress beneath him. It had all been a dream, he thought. He turned over, thinking how screwed up it was that Reborn tortured him even in his dreams.
“It wasn’t a dream,” came Reborn’s voice.

Tsuna bolted up. Looking around, he realized he wasn’t in his own room. “Where am I?” he asked. The room was small but warm. The carpet was plush, as was the blanket on top of him. The wall over the bed held a tapestry of the Vongola crest. Across the room, he saw an open door leading to a private bath and shower. On the wall next to another door, the assumed entrance, was a small leather couch holding Reborn and a stranger.

“We’re still in the facility. You collapsed from shock,” the stranger said. Looking at him, Tsuna realized that the man was younger than he’d first thought. Probably still a high school student. The young man stood and walked over to where Tsuna still sat in bed. Reaching down and grabbing his wrist, the man looked at his watch as he checked Tsuna’s pulse. After a minute, he smiled. “You seem just fine now, though.”

“Who-?”

“Nice to meet you, Sawada-dono. I’m called Sakura,” he said with a small blush. “I know it’s a girl’s name, but I was tagged with it several years ago and haven’t been able to get rid of it. As of today, I’m your family’s private physician.”

“Eh?!” Tsuna looked past him to where Reborn was sitting with the cocoon-Leon in his lap.

“Dr. Shamal stubbornly refuses to watch over your training, so I asked Sakura to do it. You’ll need someone here to make sure you and the family stays in good health. Dr. Shamal is too wishy-washy to suffice anymore.”

Tsuna looked at Sakura curiously. “Aren’t you only a high school student?” he asked.

“Don’t misjudge him because of his age, Tsuna. He trained under Dr. Shamal for several years before getting his medical degree at the age of 15.”

“Wow,” Tsuna started to say when he stopped. “Wait. Under Dr. Shamal for several years? How did you manage that? Gokudera could barely get his teaching for a week.”

Sakura face turned an even deeper shade of red. “Lets just say that it has to do with how I got tagged with the name Sakura.”

Tsuna didn’t get it, but he let the matter drop as he stood up out of the bed. “So, we’re still at Black Glove Mountain?”

Reborn nodded. “You were out for almost an hour, so lets leave the rest of the explanations for later and get to your training.”

Tsuna and Sakura followed him out the door. Outside was a enormous room. Looking up, Tsuna could see that the ceiling was at least twenty stories high. One wall was completely covered by a smooth-looking protrusion. In front of it lay a thick mat he recognized as what gymnasts used to protect them when they fell. This one seemed to be almost as tall as he was.

The sound of a blade cutting wood diverted his attention. Yamamoto was training with his sword against some wooden pells on the other side of the room. Faster than Tsuna could keep track, Yamamoto swung. The pells split like they were butter.

In the center of the room, Gokudera stood in a defensive stance at the center of a wide circle. Looking up, he could see the targets Gokudera was focusing on. Three small robotic discs were buzzing around in an erratic pattern. With the slightest of movements, he unleashed a rocket bomb toward the closest one. Gokudera cursed as the disc dodged.

Lastly, Tsuna looked over to see Ryohei shadow-boxing in front of a mirror that spanned an entire wall. Haru and Kyoko were nowhere to be seen. Nor did he see any of the multitude of customers that had been waiting in line outside the facility.

Seeing his curious look, Reborn explained, “Since you won’t be able to focus until I explain,” he pointed to the mirrored wall. “The other side of that wall is the facility for the customers. Kyoko and Haru are playing on the rock walls out there.” He pointed to the flat wall that he had first looked at. “This is your wall.” Reborn walked up to the site of the twenty-story-tall installation and touched something behind it.

The wall reacted. Four small squares protruded. By now, his friends had noticed his appearance and came close. Ignoring them, Tsuna jumped up on top of the gymnast mat and over to the wall. There he inspected the protrusions that had popped out. “These are?”

“Grips for your hands and feet, so that you can climb.” Tsuna didn’t quite understand. “Just try it,” Reborn encouraged.

Nodding, Tsuna grabbed a hold of the first set and put his weight on them, testing them out. “You are now in the ‘ready’ position,” Reborn said as another set above him appeared. “When you touch that next set, the training starts.”

Reaching up and grabbing hold, Tsuna understood what Reborn had meant. He wasn’t able to hold on for more than half a second before the next one appeared and one of his footholds disappeared. Letting go, Tsuna landed softly back on the mat as the handholds and footholds continued to crawl up the wall at an alarming rate. Within a few seconds, they were completely out of his reach.

The reason for the incredible thickness of the gymnast’s mat suddenly dawned on him as he looked up. The wall really did reach twenty stories high. He had a feeling that if that mat wasn’t there, he’d be hurting with more than just muscle fatigue at the end of the day.

“I see,” Tsuna said. “This time getting to the top isn’t the only problem. I have to keep moving or the handholds and footholds I’m using will disappear and I’ll fall.”

“Exactly,” Reborn said. “Not only that, but I can adjust the timing later on so that the appearance and disappearance of your footing is even faster or even randomized. Also,” Reborn continued, “The goal isn’t only to climb up, but back down within five minutes. Since this isn’t as tall as the one you used to climb, the effort required by climbing down instead of falling should make up the difference.”

“Extreme training!” Ryohei said with blazing eyes, obviously wanting to try it himself.

“Amazing, 10th!” Gokudera exclaimed at the end of the explanation. Tsuna could only give a faltering laugh.

“But, isn’t that too fast for him?” Sakura asked.

“Nothing’s too much for him, you idiot!” Gokudera automatically reached for a stick of dynamite. “Who are you anyway? If I don’t like the answer-”

“Ah!” Sakura yelled, diving behind Yamamoto. Yamamoto, for his part, just watched cheerfully until Reborn introduced the newcomer.

“This is the Family’s new personal physician, Sakura. Since Tsuna’s going to be training with the strength of the Dying Will Flame again, this guy is here to make sure he stays in one piece. Tsuna’s body still can’t handle that much flame yet, so after two minutes,” Reborn pulled out a stopwatch, “Tsuna will end up crashing.”

“I’ll also be working with each of you to make sure you stay in peak condition,” Sakura said, suddenly confidently. “I’ll be here to treat any of your injuries that might happen during training. From muscle strain to massive heart failure, I’m trained to take care of it all.”

Reborn turned to Tsuna. “Remember, for now, you only have two minutes. More than that and you might end up sleeping a week. When the timer goes off, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing, release your flame back down to it’s lowest setting.”

Tsuna nodded. He knew better than anyone what the possible consequences were for over-use of his flame. He also knew how hard this training was truly going to be. Without his gloves, the strain on his body was going to be incredible. But he had to do it.

Reborn hit the reset switch on the installation and Tsuna got into the ‘Ready’ position again. His friends watched worriedly.

Reborn gave him a countdown. When he reached one, Tsuna instantaneously increased his flame until the orange flame burst from his head. He began to climb. He was barely able to stay ahead of the wall’s speed, but only barely. Twice he lost his footing and only sheer determination allowed him to scramble up as the next set of handholds appeared.

Six or seven stories of his way up the wall, he heard Sakura’s voice yell up. “Three…two…one…! Release it, Sawada-dono!” Following orders, he released his flame. For a few seconds, Tsuna thought he might be okay and started to reach for the next set of handholds. Then darkness swept over him from every direction and he fell.

* * *

Sakura was the first to reach Tsuna’s body when it landed on the mat. Sweat was already steaming off his body. Carefully stretching him out, he ignored Gokudera’s threats and curses. He did a quick once-over, checking his pulse, temperature and other vitals before turning to the others. “He’s fine,” he said, calming Gokudera considerably so that Yamamoto didn’t have to retrain him. “A bit fevered, but not too bad. I’d estimate he’ll be awake in only an hour if we get him into a warm bed now.”
Yamamoto and Gokudera pulled Tsuna’s arms up onto their shoulders. The younger boy just hung limply between them. They nodded to each other and wordlessly began carrying Tsuna back into his resting room.

“It seems that his training up until now paid off. It was much worse last time he tried using a flame of that level.” Reborn said to Sakura when the others had returned to their self-training. “He might be able to catch up faster than we hoped, depending on the muscle pain when he wakes.”

“I wouldn’t do more than one or two sessions a day,” Sakura warned placing a cold cloth on Tsuna’s eyes and forehead. “Doing too much at this stage could have the opposite effect.”

“You’re the doctor. Well, I’ll be at the Juice Bar in the public facility. Have Tsuna come out there when he wakes.”

Sakura nodded, already engrossed with taking care of his patient. Reborn smiled. New family member acquired.

* * *

Tsuna woke to screaming muscles. Carefully, he sat up, painfully aware of how thirsty he was. Before he could look around to look for something to drink, Sakura was at his side with a large glass of water.
“This should help the dehydration, Sawada-dono, but you really need more nutrients than what plain water will give you,” he said as Tsuna hungrily drained the glass. “Reborn probably already expected this, though. He’s waiting for you in the Juice Bar when you feel up to it.”

“This place has a Juice Bar?” He panted.

Sakura nodded. “Most of the public facility isn’t complete yet, but other than the rock climbing walls there is the Juice bar, a gift shop, and an extensive locker room for both genders with hot springs and a sauna. Those are the only areas open so far, which is why there’s an occupancy limit. The second floor has three swimming pools for different uses and the third floor has a weight-training facility still being constructed. There are three other floors that are still empty above that. Reborn said those would be left alone until you decide what you want there.”

Tsuna sat in wonder. “So, the public part of Black Glove Mountain is like a recreational gym or something?”

Again, Sakura nodded. “This area we’ve been using is actually called Sawada Dojo.”

Tsuna choked. “A-And this is all mine?”

With a smile, Sakura said, “More than just wanting you to have a legitimate business front, I think the 9th wanted you to understand what it felt like to be responsible for a large number of people. I think it’s his way of trying to help train you.”

“I-I see.” Tsuna still felt shaky at the prospect, but he understood when explained that way. Sakura helped him out of the bed. He ignored his screaming muscles to the best of his ability. His legs still felt a bit wobbly, but he could stand.

Following Sakura out, he waved to Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei to let them know he was alright. They waved back then returned to their self-training. Walking past Ryohei, Sakura showed him the nearly invisible door inset beside the wall of mirrors. When it opened, a blast of laughter and noise assaulted him.

Immediately to his left was the entrance to the juice bar. Looking up, he realized that the ceiling only reached around five stories tall in comparison to the height of the twenty story area he had just left. Curious, Tsuna ignored the Juice Bar and went to look at he rest of the facility. Sakura silently followed him.

Out the front doors, he could see the line on the street hadn’t shrunk. As a group of people left, however, the attendant at the door let more people in. He watched as the people walked up to the reception desk to pay and get paired with a safety professional. Still curious, he followed behind that group as they were led around the corner. Peeking around to see, Tsuna saw as the trainer helped them get into harnesses and gave them a quick safety lecture.

Looking around, he saw all the walls had rock wall installations on them. Unlike the one he trained on, however, the handhold and foothold grips were stationary on these. There were also safety lines attached to the climbers and everyone wore helmets.

Then he noticed the ‘prize-wall’ that Haru had mentioned. This wall wasn’t much different from his own, only differing in height. Like his own, the handholds and footholds disappeared, although at a rate much slower than the one he trained on. As he watched, a challenger stepped up and got ready to try to beat it. Like everyone else, he was wearing safety equipment.

He managed to get half-way up before losing his footing. Tsuna’s heart leaped as he expected the boy to fall. But his worry was needless. The challenger hung there in mid-air grumbling at his own failure as his friends laughed excitedly, cheering him on to try again. The boy was carefully lowered to the ground with the ropes attached to his safety harness by the trainer that was with them.

Tsuna turned back to Sakura. “I never would have thought that people would consider this fun.”

Sakura shrugged, “Honestly, it’s probably only a passing fad, but if it makes them want to exercise, I see no harm in it.” He waved for Tsuna to follow him and led the way back to the juice bar.

Inside, Reborn was nowhere to be found. Sakura didn’t seem to mind, though. He led him up to the counter, past the line of waiting customers. Before the people in line could start complaining, however, the kindly, wrinkled man behind the counter greeted them cheerfully and left the line of customers to his assistant.

“Oi, if it isn’t my favorite Doctor. How are you today, my dear young man?” Tsuna lost his hesitation. “Would you like your usual?” he asked.

“No, I was actually hoping I could have you mix me something for Sawada-dono,” Sakura said carelessly.

The man’s face went blank. “Sawada-dono?” He looked over at Tsuna, seeming to have trouble comprehending something. “T-T-This is the owner…?”

Tsuna had sudden flashback to the attendant’s response at the entrance. He decided he had better take control before the poor man did something embarrassing. He stepped forward, “Hello, I’m Tsuna. It’s a pleasure to meet you…?” He held out his hand. After a moment, the man nervously shook his hand.

“People around here call me Mr. Guru, Sawada-dono,” he said with a respectful bow.

Tsuna forestalled him, “Please,” he asked sincerely, “I’m still not used to people calling me Sawada-dono and acting like that. I’m still just a student, after all. Just call me Tsuna.” Apparently it was the right thing to say. The man finally relaxed and his eyes regained their former cheer.

“So, what can I get for you?”

“I’ll take my usual, but if you could mix up Sawa-err-Tsuna a glass of banana, plum and strawberry, extra thick, I’d appreciate it.” The man turned and started pulling out fresh ingredient from the refrigerators stashed under the counter.

“Banana, plum, and Strawberry?” Tsuna asked, which set Sakura off on a lecture about the benefits of the fruits that Tsuna only half-remembered afterward. Thankfully, Mr. Guru didn’t take long. What he gave Tsuna was more of a shake than a glass of juice, though.

Sakura let the man get back to serving the line of customers without fuss, and looked around for somewhere they could sit. There were tons of seating areas, but they all seem to have at least two people occupying them. Tsuna looked at the booths stationed along the walls. Most of them were filled with schoolgirls who seemed to be huddled around some kind of small installation in the wall.

But he noticed one booth in the back, seemingly empty. He waved Sakura to follow him and made his way over. When he reached the table, he realized he was mistaken. There was a single girl already there that he hadn’t seen due to the high back of the seats.

Surprised, Tsuna exclaimed, “H-Hana?! What are you doing here?”

“Oh,” she said with a bored look in her eyes. “Kyoko called ten minutes ago and said she wanted me to meet her here. I should have known you’d be here.” Then she caught sight of Sakura and Tsuna could see her calculating his age in her head. Apparently it was a calculation she liked, because her eyes lit up and she asked them to join her.

“So, who’s this with you, Tsuna?”

“Um, eh,” He had a sudden bad feeling as he sat down.

Before he could formulate his reply, though, Sakura was already introducing himself. “I’m Sakura, Sawa-err-Tsuna’s private physician.”

Hana’s eyes lit up again. “You’re a doctor?”

As the two continued to chat along, Tsuna took a drink of his shake. It was surprisingly good. He let his mind wander as he drank. Sakura was giving Hana a lecture on the wonders of the fruits she was drinking and Hana seemed to be in rapt fascination.

“What’s this?” Tsuna interrupted, catching both their attention. It was the same installation he’d noticed in the other booths. There was a television screen with buttons surrounding it. The three across the top said “highlights”, “replay”, and “live feed” and ones going down the left side had symbols instead of words. From top to bottom there was button with a sword, a spark, a fist and a fish.

With a sinking feeling, Tsuna pushed “live feed” and the sword button. On the screen, an image of Yamamoto practicing swings with a kendo stick popped up. Pressing the spark button proved to be Gokudera and the fist showed Ryohei. Tsuna groaned.

Suspicious, Hana reached over and pressed the fish. Tsuna turned red, it was his own training area on the screen. “No one’s there,” she complained. Before he could stop her, she reached up and switched from “live feed” to “replay”. An image of Tsuna climbing the wall appeared. He was interested to notice that the replay seemed to switch from multiple angles. When it went to a close-up, he was amazed at the look of concentration and determination on his own face.

For the next two minutes, he couldn’t help but watch. He couldn’t believe that this was a video of himself. As the video continued, Tsuna remembered what had happened afterwards. Thankfully, it cut off before he’d crashed.

As Hana looked from the video screen, to Tsuna, and back to the screen, Reborn made his appearance holding a cup of purple juice. “So,” he asked, “what do you think of the place?”

Tsuna turned red again. “Why were we recorded?!” he squealed.

Reborn smiled as he laid cocoon-Leon on the table. “You didn’t think that your 6 million came from just people climbing rock walls, did you? The juice bar makes twice as much as the gym area because girls want to come watch videos of you four. Well, not you, but the others. The opening of the live feeds were the main attraction today. We’ve only had the highlights section of the video feeds up before.”

Tsuna looked at him blankly as he continued, “Most of your profit comes from sales in the gift shop though. I hear the Yamamoto postcards are selling exceptionally well.”

“How-Why-How-” Tsuna spluttered ignoring Hana’s presence. “Do the others know about this?!”

“Yup,” Reborn confirmed. “They were shown during the tour. Supposedly when he found out it was to help your facility, Gokudera was the first to demand he start practice.”

“Wait a moment,” Hana interrupted. “His facility?” She chucked a thumb at Tsuna.

“Oi, didn’t you tell anyone at school anything?”

“You know I didn’t!” Tsuna squealed.

Reborn turned to Hana and started talking before Tsuna could stop him. “So you didn’t know Tsuna was the heir to the Vongola family? Or that his Family is known worldwide for their power and money?”

“Reborn!” Tsuna yelled before Reborn could say anything about the mafia. “You didn’t have to say that!”

Hana sat dumbstruck as Reborn told Tsuna, “Hana has connections with Kyoko and Ryohei. She would have found out sooner or later.”

“Wait, so Kyoko knows?” Tsuna turned pale.

“It was explained during the tour while you were passed out.”

Tsuna could only moan. Reborn always had a way of turning things upside down right when he’d gotten comfortable. He should have known.