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The afternoon was sunny but chilly, and the sun was starting to sink beyond the school building. Classes were long over, and most students were already home.
The archery club was still busy, though, the new members being guided through proper posture and correct handling. Still, Gokudera didn't require much guiding. After the first handful of meetings, he'd quickly asserted his superiority over all freshmen and even some upperclassmen.
After all, his performance would reflect on the Tenth.
The club's captain, a gentle-voiced, long-haired third year girl, seemed very pleased with his attention and drive; she concentrated heavily on him, often manually correcting his grip and stance, and had solemnly expressed her hopes that he would become the club's new ace and captain when she finished school. He figured it would be alright. Being club captain was a small, silly thing to add to a resume which already included time-traveling and a hand in the ongoing development of box weapons (intensely scrutinized by the Vongola), but it would only serve as further proof, in the future, that greatness had always been a part of the Tenth's life, and of the lives of his most trusted and close.
And being his most trusted and close, it was his duty to be the most glorious under him. Nothing less than what was befitting of the Vongola Tenth’s Right-Hand.
Still, as he shot arrow after arrow dead-center in each target, contemplating how to best complement the grandeur of the man (actually a boy) he admired most, it never occurred him that said man (actually a boy) was watching him from the fence, along with a handful of their friends. If he had, he would have been in awe of the fact that his beloved boss had managed to keep them in relative quiet.
Sawada Tsunayoshi never ceased to find ways to make his underling worship him more - mostly by way of basic human decency, which never ceased to baffle the poor young boss.
Still, when the club was announced closed for the day, and before the archers had even lowered their bows, Tsuna's Retinue (as they had come to be known in high school) immediately resumed their usual bickering. Gokudera turned in his surprise and was immediately greeted by the sight of his boss, followed by the usual group - one member of which was dressed like a very lopsided and happy arrow - and looking at the ground as if wishing it would swallow him.
Gokudera was extremely moved.
"Tenth!" he greeted him, bowing deeply. (The entire school, students and teachers, were convinced that Tsuna was some rich heir and Gokudera, plus the Retinue, were his bodyguards. Technically they were entirely correct.) "Have I made you wait?"
"No, no! None of it!" Tsuna waved his hands, embarrassed. (The surrounding club members snickered discreetly at how Rich Heir Tsuna was still trying to not let on the fact that he was Rich and surrounded by bodyguards.) "We actually kinda wanted to watch you shoot. Archery looks so dignified, you know. You were all really impressive."
The members of the archery club, loitering around in curiosity, were actually quite moved by those words, and by the humbleness and simplicity of Rich Heir Tsuna, who had just praised them as if he wasn't aware of the fact that he was being intensely overheard.
Not quite as moved as Gokudera, though, whose eyes visibly welled up with tears. Dignified and impressive were words he'd constantly used to describe the Tenth himself, and hearing those words directed at him by the selfsame was like having Christmas everyday, for the rest of the year.
A feeling welled up inside the boy, like an idea that hadn't taken shape, and he gaped like a drowning fish as he searched for words to thank him with. Thankfully, the Captain (who was also moved by Rich Tsuna's praise) decided to step in and interrupt the awkward silence.
"Have you ever done archery, Sawada-san?" she asked, with her ever-present polite smile. Behind her, Gokudera glowed like a theatrical spotlight - of course, that was exactly what had been bugging him. Something as dignified and impressive as archery was absolutely PERFECT for the Tenth, after all!
"Yes!" Gokudera blurted out, grinning like a loon. "What a marvelous idea!" and unhesitatingly pushed his bow into Tsuna's limp hands.
"Bwuh--"
"Oooh!" said the lopsided arrow, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Haru wants to see Tsuna-san shoot, too!"
The idea spread around them like fire, and club members and watching students alike voiced their approval. In seconds, Tsuna's face was the color of a newly-baked brick.
"You-you guys," he mumbled, hands twisting around the bow and eyes glued to the floor, "I won't be any good at this, I'm really clumsy..."
"Nonsense!" protested Gokudera. "Everything you do is glorious."
"Yes, Tsuna," said the random kid in a fedora who sometimes wandered in, "One way or another, it'll be glorious."
"Yes," said Kyoko, dimpling gently up at him, "you won't know until you try, will you, Tsuna?"
The surrounding club members started a chant - Tsuna! Tsuna! Tsuna! -, and when the Captain handed him an arrow and he turned to the targets, ears aflame, they started clapping. The nearly otherworldly clumsiness and physical ineptitude of Rich Tsuna was also well-documented within the school, so everyone was well assured of a spectacle worth watching.
But they still made sure to migrate to a safe place to stand in and record from.
The Captain gently and patiently explained to him the optimal posture, corrected his grip, shifted his base, all with a lot less touching than she usually employed in teaching Gokudera (who observed this fact with approval; it was only proper to keep her hands off the Tenth unless required). Eventually, though, she stepped back, and Tsuna turned his full attention to the target ahead of him - and turned it so intensely, the air itself seemed to change around him.
Jaws slackened, eyes widened, and the bow twanged; the arrow flew, arched and then sagged, embedding itself halfheartedly on the bottom edge of the target circle.
And then Tsuna laughed, dropping his shoulders in nervous relief. "Well, that went a lot better than I expected!" he breathed out, chuckling.
The Captain also breathed out a fluttery sigh, a hand grasping her chest; beside her, Gokudera was glowing like a thousand suns. Yamamoto slapped Tsuna's shoulder, Haru clapped her hands happily, Ryohei talked about extreme aiming skills and Kyoko suggested cake as a prize.
The other club members were left to rub their eyes and wonder who was it that stood there before the shot, golden eyes narrowed, mouth set straight. He'd sure looked an awful lot like Rich Tsuna, only he'd also looked an awful lot like the personification of dignified, impressive and glorious.
He'd also looked awfully handsome.
Quickly the Captain encouraged him to try another shot, making sure to thoroughly and manually correct his stance as he did so; and again pictures were taken, movies were recorded and jaws were dislodged. And then the Captain decided that third time was the charm, and the witnesses were able to take another round of pictorial evidence. Each time, the arrow seemed to get absolutely not at all closer to the target's center.
Soon the Captain was begging him to enter the archery club. Gokudera was clearly torn on the matter; on the one hand, archery was a perfectly suitable sport for his boss, but on the other hand he already had a lot on his plate.
A quick conference among Rich Tsuna's retinue took place, and then the Lopsided Arrow solemnly announced to the club members that Tsuna-san would show up to the club whenever he had time to spare. The club broke out into applause. The Captain was grinning widely, faraway eyes contemplating a future of much manual stance correcting.
The next morning, Tsuna walked by the announcement board and nearly fainted when he saw a picture of his face, blown up to cover an entire sheet, looking an awful lot like a brown-haired Giotto and missing only the Dying Will Flame on his forehead. It surprised him so much, in fact, that he completely failed to notice the recruitment poster for his own fanclub stuck nearby.