Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own anything of Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or any part of its characters, manga, or anime. Likewise, they do not belong to me. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (KHR! for short) belongs to its rightful owner, Akira Amano. The only thing I do own is the plot that I am using in this story and nothing else. I am not making any money out of this, and this story is simply for my amusement and the enjoyment of others.
Pairings: Nothing in particular but feel free to interpret the actions among any characters as you will. If you squint real hard, you might be able to find subtle hints of any pairing (including Shonen Ai) throughout the story.
Author's Note: Hi, pleasure to meet everyone! Just thought I'd write up a story for KHR! and try my hand at writing a fanfic. I'm pretty new to this so hopefully this story won't be so bad… At least, I hope so.
This will be based upon both the manga and anime by the way, so I'm just going to say sorry in advance if any part of it confuses you. This story will take place after the Ten Years Later Arc and at the start of the Shimon Arc. There may be hints from The Curse of the Rainbow Arc, but I don't know if I'll incorporate it in or not. I've made some changes in the events that happened in canon, but they'll be small, so you probably won't notice them. I will let you know what changes I've made after each chapter is finished.
I'd like to apologize in advance about not being able to update this story daily because of… Well, (you've all heard this excuse) life, school, homework, and all that. I'll try to update weekly or every few days. Er, maybe. Worst case scenario would be once a month or even next year, but I hope I won't have to resort to that. I'll try my best though!
If you spot any mistakes or want to give some constructive criticism on my writing, feel free to leave a review! Anyway, thank you for choosing to read this story, and I hope you enjoy it!
Let the Flames Die (LTFD):
Life had begun ever so peacefully.
Endings never existed as it went on and on.
The story kept going on forever and ever.
The lives that was lost, the time that was taken,
However much is gone, remember.
Ease your mind of burdens, forget.
Friendship binds what we call trust.
Lies blind what is right before you.
Accuse those who have done no wrong.
Meet the truth, hurt yourself for it.
Erase the hurt, prove the innocent.
Summon the will burning from within.
Decide your path, dream of an absolution.
Ill intentions lie awake, unveil what I am and cope.
Echoes resound wishes, grant them with your hope.
Target 1: Fragile Sky
The sky colors and engulfs all,
Slight hesitation brings it to its downfall.
Unable to save everyone,
No one to save itself,
An end comes to our dearest, most cherished sky.
-2-7-
A boy was startled out of his sleep. He rose up from his bed, gasping for air and ridding the blanket off himself. He turned to glance at his alarm clock as he tried to catch his breath.
Two in the morning.
He groaned and fell back in bed with his mattress squeaking in protest. It was far too early for him to be up so why? Why wake up at such a time? And on a Monday morning, too?
As the boy reluctantly sat up, brown orbs nervously searched around the room. Something was wrong. Definitely wrong. But what? There was nothing that seemed out of place. His bedroom seemed to be in fine shape if you took into account that having clothes and snacks thrown about everywhere was fine. It didn't look like anyone had snuck in while he was sleeping (not that you could really tell from the mess), and so far, there weren't any traps to be seen that were set up by his tutor.
He was sure he was forgetting something. Just what was it? He knew it was important somehow, and if he didn't find out what it was, he was going to be in a world of hurt sometime soon. Besides, why was he still in his school uniform? Last time he checked, school clothes were for school, and pajamas were for bed. Not the other way around.
As he was busy thinking about his uniform, his eyes landed on his backpack where a piece of white was protruding just the slightest bit out of the zipper.
Wait, it couldn't be. Could it? He squinted his eyes at the paper. Then, the boy paled and palmed himself in the face at the realization.
It's too early to do homework. For goodness sake, he just wanted to get back to sleep! Not worry about some sheet of paper that could possibly be the only thing that could change his horrible grades. Not to mention that a certain tutor could kill him over it. For one single second in his life, he forgot about that.
Then, there was the sound of the click. Every single memory of a painful beating or form of torture courtesy of the owner of that wonderful click flooded back, ranging from getting hit by a one ton hammer directly on the head to being exploded out of his room for getting a math question wrong.
When the teen, rather regretfully, turned around to the sound, he was not expecting a gun to be pointing directly at his forehead. It goes to say that he let out a rather unmanly scream at the object and scrambled against the wall to get as far away as he can from it. Even though he saw the same green-colored gun almost everyday, he still couldn't help but be terribly afraid of it when it would just magically pop up in front of his face. It just wasn't normal.
"R-Reborn! Please don't shoot! I don't want to die yet!" He held his hands out and shook them from side to side. He couldn't die right now! He was too young to head up to the world beyond, and even if he did die, he wanted to at least see his long-time crush, Sasagawa Kyoko, one last time. Then again, having Kyoko see him die like this at the hands of his tutor at two in the morning would be pretty embarrassing and nonetheless weird.
The home tutor that was currently living with him was sent to teach the boy to become the tenth generation mafia boss of Vongola, possibly the largest mafia organization in all of Italy. Reborn was also, as he himself had claimed many times, the best hitman in the world, so what would you expect when you're around him? First thing you'd notice would be a gun pointing at you for no reason. Like right now.
"No-Good Tsuna, did you think I'd let you get away with not doing your homework?" Insert a glint in the eye of the baby-sized tutor Reborn and the boy couldn't help but shiver and squeak a reply bordering along the lines of 'no.' "Do it right now before I shoot."
And so, the fifteen-year-old boy nicknamed No-Good Tsuna, otherwise known as Sawada Tsunayoshi or just Tsuna for short, hopped out of his bed as fast as he could. However, along the way, his foot caught the end of his bed sheet, making his hazel eyes widen in surprise, and thus, made him fall headfirst to his carpeted floor. This did not please Reborn.
Not at all.
Now what was the natural reaction of Tsuna? It wasn't stop, drop, and roll for one thing because there obviously wasn't a fire. It wasn't like he had the guts to ever go against Reborn, so he couldn't stand up and fight back. Which leaves shutting his eyes, covering his head in a sad attempt to protect himself, and begging for mercy whilst still being in his awkward position.
"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" The boy couldn't help but try to sink in further into the floor to hide from any pain that was to be inflicted at any given moment. How he wished he could melt into the ground right there.
"Are you telling me what to do?" Reborn tipped his fedora down and smirked. He cocked the gun closer to his student's head, making the said student cower back again. The day his student was going to tell him what not to do and what to do was going to be the day when the brunet officially and willingly became Decimo. Might as well enjoy teasing the boy around before that time came. Moreover, teasing Tsuna was becoming a sort of hobby now.
"Eh? N-no, I'm not! No wait, Reborn!"
Too bad his tutor wasn't one of those people who listen before hearing a plea. Maybe he could've gotten five more seconds if Reborn was one. Maybe. Probably not. Oh well, what's done is done. Fear was stricken across Tsuna's face as he pleadingly looked at his tutor's face to stop.
"Die."
At the end of those words, the gun let out an audible bang that seemed to echo around the room. Regret flashed through Tsuna's eyes as he closed them shut. Fifteen years went down the drain all in the name of not doing his homework. What a waste.
"Hieeee!" Tsuna expected a bullet to have hit his forehead. He expected to be dead within one second flat.
There was a slight problem.
He wasn't dead. At least, he didn't feel like he was dead. There wasn't any pain or blood coming out or anything. He was sure he heard the gun go off, so where did the bullet land?
The brunet cracked one eyelid open and then the other. At first, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was just like that time when Reborn had disappeared after being shot by the Ten-Year bazooka. After Tsuna had eventually found him, the little tutor had tricked the poor boy into thinking that a Reborn-like dummy was the real thing while the actual Reborn was waiting until the very last moment to kick the brunet in the back of the head. This wasn't the first time either. Reborn had ditched Bianchi with a replica of him to avoid his very own wedding, too.
Looks like third time's the charm.
Reborn, or rather the fake Reborn, had his gun aimed at Tsuna, but instead of a bullet coming out, a sign with the word 'Bang!' stuck out of the gun. Slowly recollecting himself, Tsuna eyed the clone, and before he could even poke it, it spoke. Tsuna yelped and jumped back away from it.
"No-Good Tsuna, you probably don't remember this since you've been trying to recover from the shock of me erasing your stupid game file." Reborn paused, letting the information sink in.
"What?" Tsuna's eyes widened and he immediately raced for his game system and flipped it on along with the game he had been trying to complete last night. He repeatedly mashed the controller's buttons to skip the game's intro and go straight to the where the game files were.
He remembered now. He had been playing late into the night, and Reborn had snatched the controller from him and deleted his saved progress as punishment for not doing his homework. Then, Tsuna had foamed at the mouth and fainted, blacking out for the rest of the night. Thankfully, it wasn't much worse. If Reborn had completely annihilated his game system with bullet holes or by a hammer, Tsuna could swear he would've gone straight into a coma.
The brunet stared at the screen with a gaping mouth. It was like Reborn had previously said. The game file that he had spent countless hours upon hours trying to get everything without messing up so much was gone. The boy's eye twitched. His grip on the controller loosened, allowing for it to drop to the floor with a thud. He stared unbelievably at the screen. The fake Reborn frowned at this.
"But anyway," the fake Reborn pushed the 'Bang!' sign into his gun, "Mama, Bianchi, Fuuta, I-Pin, the idiot cow, and I are at a party that Mama was invited to." Tsuna slowly turned around with a whimpering face. "Don't give me that look. We won't be home until eight o'clock, so get to your homework or else." Reborn twirled his gun around. "All the answers better be right or you'll have bullet holes in your head the next time I see you."
Then just like that, the Reborn-like copy deflated like a balloon and flew out of the open window. Tsuna watched as it flew out and ended up exploding in a show of fireworks. Reborn was always one for a smashing exit.
The teen softly sighed and turned off his video game after closing the window. He rummaged through his backpack for his homework and a pencil all the while inwardly crying over his lost save file.
When he was about to turn on the lights, something prompted him to look around his room. The usual hammock that hung close by to the boy's bed was unoccupied. The comforting feeling (yet the boy wouldn't admit it) of having his tutor by his side was nowhere to be felt in his room. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he did feel kind of lonely without any of the usual chaos that would happen in his house. It hit him that this was the first time in a long time that he was finally home alone. No mom, no kids, and no Reborn. Just him.
The teen had an unsettling feeling and began to panic. What if what had happened last time happened again with the whole assassination attempt or even when some guy had waltzed into his room and pretended to be dead? He was sure he wouldn't be able to handle it. At least, not all by himself.
A knock came from his bedroom door and halted the boy's thoughts. His body froze in the middle of turning on the light switch. Who'd be up so early in the morning to knock on his door? Scratch that, who would even care enough to knock? It's not like his dad finally came home to visit him, right? His dad would have busted all the doors down if he wanted to do that. The man really didn't understand privacy all that much.
His mother and the kids who lived with him since the children didn't really have a family of their own, were currently at a party. There was no tutor in the hammock, no loud snoring courtesy of one of the children, and no wake up calls. Just that awkward knocking at his bedroom door. And that feeling of having butterflies in his stomach.
Who'd host a party for this long anyway?
The children, Lambo, Fuuta, and I-Pin were in good hands for the most part with his mother, Nana and his big-sister-like friend, Bianchi. Reborn went along with them as well, so they were going to be okay by themselves. His father, Iemitsu, rarely came home due to being part of the mafia, so there was no use in thinking he'd ever come back. Maybe he was just imaging things. No one in their right mind would knock at his door at this time.
And what of Tsuna himself? The one who was in his bedroom in a house that was practically devoid of life save for him? He had fainted after seeing that his game file was deleted before his eyes. He should've known that not doing his homework would make Reborn give out a harsh punishment. Now he was all alone with no one else around since everyone had left for some party that no one had asked if he wanted to come.
He really needed to be brave on his own, but it had only been a few days since he had returned from the future with his friends. The boy was still on high alert for any possible enemies to spring up from who knows where, like whatever was behind the door for example.
After a couple of more knocks, it all stopped. The boy held his breath as the slow rattle of his doorknob could be heard.
He hadn't locked it.
While the door began to slowly open, the boy dropped what he was holding and ran towards his desk to rummage through the drawers.
He couldn't handle this weird feeling in the room at all. It made him tense, too unsure of himself. Almost as if his mist guardian, Mukuro, was there, but this feeling was different. It was similar, but then again, it wasn't at the same time. Tsuna shook his head to clear his thoughts. The objects he was searching for had to be around somewhere. There were his mittens and pills, but where did his Vongola ring run off to?
The presence seemed to loom closer seeing as the door was now wide open. The boy's mind raced. He couldn't turn back. He couldn't find his ring. He had to deal with whatever he had.
When Tsuna grasped the items he needed, he quickly pulled on the white mittens embroidered in red with his favorite number, twenty-seven, and swallowed two blue round pills that came to be called his 'Dying Will Pills.' His mittens glowed and quickly changed to a pair of black clad gloves. Each glove had a large blue gem embedded in the middle with the mark of the Vongola in the center, indicating that the boy was indeed the tenth generation's one and only Vongola boss.
A bright orange flame lit up upon the boy's head. The flame flickered and licked the air greedily, growing in size as it did so. The flames were produced through his 'Dying Will', which in simpler terms, would be his resolution to keep him going, the reason why he would fight and was further refined by his life force. The stronger the will, the more pure the flames looked. It reflected what its controller was.
The owner of the brilliant flame knew how to control it, and if need be, could emit flames from his gloves and blow the whole surrounding area up, leaving a gaping hole where most of his neighborhood would be. Not that the thought had ever crossed Tsuna's mind.
The teen was kind and a bit small in stature for a fifteen-year-old. He was clumsy, a little too clumsy for one's taste to the point he was called a loser or no-good and even truthfully accepted the fact that he was the worst in both athletics and academics. In short, a failure.
Nevertheless, he was protective over his loved ones and greatly admired (only by people who know he was in the mafia) for both his 'Vongola Hyper Intuition' and interesting personality for one fit to be a mafia boss, especially for the Vongola. He still rejects himself of being a part of the mafia world though, promising that he would rather destroy the Vongola then accept the heritage whole heartedly.
The flame glowed enough to light up the intruder's face as the teen turned around to get a closer inspection. Tsuna's now orange piercing eyes that had transformed from his usual chocolate ones scanned the being that had entered into his room.
Tsuna blinked. Once, to make sure that what he was seeing wasn't his imagination. Twice, to double check he wasn't dreaming. On the third blink, Tsuna opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the right words to say. Realizing he was being rude and probably looked like a tuna gaping for air, he quickly snapped his mouth shut.
Right there in front of him was none other than the one who had thrust the boy into the whole mafia family business. The one who had started the all too famous Vongola. The founder who was the cause of everything for happening right up to pretty much this point. It was the first generation Vongola boss himself: Vongola Primo.
The boy stared, bewildered at the sudden appearance of his great-great-great grandfather. What in the world was he doing here? At this time of day or for this matter, this time period? The boy couldn't help but stare at him. The Primo was right there in front of him! And the man didn't look the slightest bit fazed!
Dressed with a black mantle hanging loosely across his shoulders, golden chains strapped across his chest, and a pinstriped suit to go along with everything and you've got yourself the mafia boss of the first Vongola Famiglia. The man stared back at Tsuna without a care in the world as if him being there was not a problem at all. He didn't take into account that he was indeed a huge problem for his great-great-great grandson.
The Primo almost shared the same characteristics as the boy in front of him but had a few subtle differences here and there. Tsuna had chestnut brown hair whereas the man had vibrantly blond hair. Both had the same hairstyle with spikes poking out at various places but it was a mystery on how they both got their hair to stay in that particular hairstyle. Their heights were different with the Primo being about a foot or two taller than the boy. As for personality, they were almost one and the same though the Primo tended to be calmer while the teen was a bit of a wimp most of the time. Even their fighting techniques and weapons were similar. The Primo used gloves in battle; the boy used gloves in fights. If possible, they could've been mistaken as brothers if they had lived in the same timeline.
Obviously, the Primo would make out to be the big brother.
The man's golden orange eyes stared down at the young boy's, almost as if he were searching for something. The man held the stare down there for the both of them, taking away the boy's sanity or whatever was left from all the weird encounters and mafia business bit by bit.
Meanwhile, the boy's mind was spinning. How could this happen to him? This was beyond impossible! If the universe had a rulebook, it would have been blown up into pieces by now if it hadn't already been by Reborn or Byakuran. But lo and behold, here Primo was: the boy's ancestor and first sky guardian in the flesh. Not in spirit form and certainly not some sort of holographic figure. He was real. He was the real deal!
This was completely and utterly unfair.
Tsuna had already proven himself in the Vongola Inheritance Succession trials, and yet, here was the same exact man who had helped to issue them. He was hoping the appearance with Primo showing up at the boy's final battle, with a certain white-haired maniac who loved marshmallows going by the name of Byakuran, to encourage him on had been the last.
What did the teen ever do to deserve this? Why did the most absurd things always happen to him? It's not like he did something bad in the past and karma had come back to haunt him as far as he could tell. He just wanted to live in peace! Not deal with these this-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-all-know-it situations or you're-going-to-become-the-Decimo-even-though-you-don't-want-to-but-you-have-to-or-else kind of things! Oh, and let's not forget your-ancestor-appearing-out-of-the-blue-for-some-unknown-reason type of predicament!
As Tsuna was confusing himself altogether and getting more questions than answers, he didn't take notice of how tired Primo looked. His ancestor contemplated for a few seconds to let the brunet before him try to sort out his thoughts. It's not like he meant to give the teen a fright or anything. He just wanted to say something to the boy before he had to disappear off. Though the faces that Tsuna kept making did earn him a chuckle or two.
The Primo was the first to make a move, face switching to that of having no emotion. Tsuna snapped out of his musings, seeing that the Primo was doing something. The brunet hesitated but still looked into the other's eyes, trusting that whatever was about to happen would not do either of them any harm, both physically and mentally. Hopefully.
When the Primo had outstretched his hand in front for the boy to shake, the boy, thinking it wasn't too troublesome and could trust him, grasped the glove covered hand. Without the brunet's attention, the silver Roman numeral 'I' on the Primo's glove had begun to take to a different form.
What had seconds ago been the Primo's symbol of being from the Vongola's first generation had slowly formed into an 'N' instead. The teen's eyes widened upon the sight and snapped his head to the man's face to detect any emotions or shock. There was slim to none. The boy gripped his ancestor's hand tightly.
What was going on?
The Primo slowly shook his head as a sad smile crept up his face. A sad, gentle expression that inwardly frightened the teen. The brunet's flame had withered away all together, and hazel eyes, which had been reverted back from his orange ones, worriedly searched for what the root of the problem was.
The fellow Sky Guardian wasn't to be sad. If the Primo was sad, then the boy was sad. After all, they both shared the same fate of being the Sky Guardian for their mafia famiglias. A connection that bound two skies together.
"Decimo," the Primo started, addressing the teen by his mafia boss title. The boy could hear the crack in the other's voice. This wasn't right. The man cleared his throat and closed his eyes. "No, Sawada Tsunayoshi," the older sky guardian corrected himself.
Tsuna shook his head and in the process let go of the Primo's hand. This was all wrong. The Primo shouldn't sound like this. Ever. He was someone to look up to; someone to be trusted. He was calm and strong, never faltering. Hearing the Primo like this was unbelievable, heartbreaking even.
"It has been a short time since we had last seen each other, but there is something you must know." Tsuna stumbled back, eyes shut and ears unprepared to listen. He couldn't take it. That voice would break him. The Primo looked away with a tinge of amusement. "This… this may be for the best. For the both of us and our famiglias," the Primo quietly muttered to himself.
Tsuna, with much coaxing from his mind, glanced at the Primo. He stopped short and had to take a quick intake of air.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
The bedroom had slowly begun to disappear as if the illustrator for some story had decided a picture didn't fit well with a particular passage, so he or she just plainly got rid of it. Erasure.
Tsuna searched from side to side. Though his room was on the second floor of the house, the ground below had matched up to his floor, almost as if the first floor of the Sawada household or anything that was below the second floor simply vanished.
Tsuna looked up at the Primo.
The clock, which hung from the wall to his right and had told him countless times what time it was, had its hands spinning backwards at a speed that couldn't be seen. When the wall had completely ceased to exist, along with the boy's closet and belongings, the clock finally dropped to the ground with an earth shattering crash. A sudden urge to reach for the other sky guardian came to mind. Tsuna's intuition screamed for him not to do so, but the brunet ignored it. The teen took a step forward.
This just couldn't be happening.
His mind was too slow to process the situation. The whole place had turned to a barren, endless wasteland. Withered trees that were as black as coal sprouted up through the cracked ground, hanging its branches as if it were going to topple over to one side. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. Each face was unrecognizable for the most part since Tsuna didn't take notice of them. He was focusing on Primo at the moment. Blood was spilled haphazardly in many areas.
What had happened to the Namimori he lived in?
Tsuna reached out to his ancestor. Funny, he didn't notice they were so far apart from each other.
With a few measly feet away, the worst happened.
It was as if the whole world went in slow motion, and time had begun to laugh and mock the boy. A rock was on his path, and Tsuna, being the clumsiest person in the world besides Dino, had to go and trip over it. His descent was anything but graceful. He fell flat on his face, but no injuries were acquired from it luckily.
A faint chuckle came from his ancestor as the Primo smirked almost as if in approval of his relative's clumsiness. Tsuna was about to make a comment but stopped short. Primo was disappearing. From his toes and going on upwards, his existence was slowly being erased by some untold force.
The brunet wouldn't let this happen. Tsuna shook his head. Sure, he was No-Good Tsuna, but he always had a determination to protect everyone close to him, anyone who held a connection to his life. He had to do something in this predicament. Anything at all to stop this madness, this inevitable madness.
With a frustrated grunt and push from the ground, Tsuna straightened himself up and held out his hand the same exact way the Primo had with him. He waited patiently.
The Primo softly smiled as silence descended between the two. The brunet could've sworn that the Primo had mouthed the words 'thank you', but maybe he had imagined it. The blonde's bangs covered whatever emotion his eyes held as he returned the gesture back to his great-great-great grandson. With a firm shake that felt like it lasted for eternity but in reality only lasted for a few minutes, the Primo opened his mouth again to speak.
"You have gone through the present with a will to protect others, a heart that can warm even the coldest of hearts, and an innocence that few in the mafia have. You have traveled to the future and have experienced many things that only you could have. Your determination, above all else, has brought you here on the path that you have chosen. There are repercussions to every action, I must admit, and it seems that I can only ask you of this. Would you care to listen?"
Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in question, urging the Primo to continue.
"The past… is in trouble." The Primo gritted his teeth and looked away.
"What?" Tsuna broke the handshake, losing the warmth that was radiating from the Primo's hand. The brunet gulped. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"It seems that something happening in the present is affecting the past due to the future being fixed," Tsuna's ancestor stated. "I don't know who or what force is causing the problem," the Primo turned away from Tsuna, "but all I do know is that a new famiglia that never existed in my time had appeared and targeted the Vongola. They had technology that far surpassed our time and had utterly destroyed my famiglia." The blonde balled his fists. "I know this is selfish of me to ask this of you, and I understand that this might even get you killed, but Vongola is suffering, and me being killed off early would not only end Vongola but also end my lifeline, meaning you wouldn't exist." The Primo turned around and gently grasped Tsuna's hand, placing an object that the teen was all too familiar with. "Would you be willing to part from the present and go to the past to save Vongola, Tsunayoshi?"
Tsuna remained quiet the entire time as his great-great-great grandfather spoke. He could sense the hardships the Primo had gone through, and if no one else could help him, who else would? The Primo was asking him of all people right at this very moment. It's true that he didn't like getting involved in mafia business, but he couldn't sit around and do nothing. He had to help whether he liked it or not. His life literally depended on it.
As the Primo's hand glided away from his, it revealed Tsuna's Vongola Ring of the Sky which sat silently in his hand. It felt warm in his hand.
Huh. So that's where his ring went.
" Yes." Tsuna looked seriously at the Primo's face and slid the ring onto his finger. Thankfully, he wasn't stuttering. He had to at least act reliable in front of the Primo. "How can I help?"
"The time will come when you will meet me once again. Your guardians may come if you wish to bring them. Though we have shared a conversation right now, I will not be able to recognize you when you come into the past for you have not been born yet, and I will not have the knowledge of the future of Vongola like I do now. Most importantly, you cannot let anyone, not even I, know you are the Decimo or that you possess sky flames." He placed his hand in his pocket and plucked out a golden pocket watch.
It snapped open with a click, and a flame matching both the Primo's and Tsuna's materialized. The only other eye-catching thing other than the orange flame and the picture of the Primo's famiglia was the clock itself. The hands were missing, and every Roman numeral that represented a number was now replaced with an 'N' except for 'XII'. You couldn't tell what time it was from looking at it, but the Primo could tell perfectly that his time was running out.
"Primo?" Tsuna's hand hovered above the Primo's shoulder, afraid that if he does so much as touch him, he'll disappear just as quickly or possibly shatter. The Primo seemed so fragile at the moment.
"My time is up. 'Till we meet again, Sawada Tsunayoshi." The Primo turned towards Tsuna and gingerly closed his pocket watch just as the 'XII' turned into an 'N.'
Time had come and gone as the rest of the Primo's body continued to disappear. The sight of it was so different from what Tsuna had seen, so unreal, so out of the ordinary. Tsuna felt his throat constrict. Hot tears welled up in his brown eyes, but even he couldn't tell why it started. The tears ended up blurring his vision of the Primo.
The Primo said nothing. His bright orange eyes had dulled as if he had already died on the inside. A smile donned his face. His body was just serving as an empty shell of what he once was.
The young Sky couldn't do anything.
Before Tsuna could reach out to his ancestor one last time, the Primo had up and left, leaving orange flames that swayed in the air. The flames swirled around Tsuna, and the teen couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the comforting warmth they offered. They danced this way and that before finally blowing themselves out.
Tsuna felt his face warming up, letting the tears fall. He sniffled. The soft laughter soon became sobs. Tsuna tried to wipe the tears away as he hiccupped.
Tsuna was going to do it again. He was going to risk everything to protect what he loved and cherished. He wasn't going to be a hero. He just didn't want to lose anyone else. He couldn't bring his guardians with him because they'd be in danger, and Tsuna couldn't handle seeing them hurt. He had to do it alone for the sake of his friends. Even though the thought of not being able to see everyone again because of time traveling came to mind, Tsuna wanted to protect their smiles, their happiness. The tears continued to fall as he shut his eyes.
Life wasn't fair.
When Tsuna had calmed himself down, chocolate brown eyes opened to take in his surroundings. The metallic smell of blood from the decaying bodies around made him feel queasy. Those bodies, which he had previously ignored, were his friends, enemies, and anyone the boy had met, known, or seen. His precious friends lied lifeless and strewn about. Even the Chihuahua that chased him around ever since he was a kid was seen in the piles of bodies. Tears threatened to fall again and the feeling of having to throw up came back. He covered his mouth.
Tsuna's intuition acted upon the boy and indicated for him to look up. What was seen was the blue sky that the teen had grown accustomed to. The sky, which enveloped and understood all whether it be the storm, the rain, the sun, the thunder, the clouds, or the mist, was high above him. It used to calm him down whenever he had the chance to take notice of it. It used to make him remember what he had been through and make him smile like there was no tomorrow. The sky watched over him, but right now, it was beyond recognition.
The sky looked the same, but it held some sort of darkness in it. Some sort of deep grief that only he could sense. It wasn't bright blue like that of a soothing ocean but more of a murky blue that plainly spelled out that everything was anything but all right. Dark clouds covered most of it, as if wrapping it up in a thick blanket, not letting the tiniest bit of light shine through.
Tsuna stared blankly at it. It momentarily reminded him of the Primo and himself. They were the sky that could accept and understand all its elements. If they were sad, then the sky was sad. If the sky was sad, the attributes it held were sad. Everything influenced the other in more ways than one for better or for worse. The sky affected other skies as well, bringing them together no matter how far apart they were.
Tsuna felt his knees buckle down, and he couldn't help but huddle himself up into a ball thereafter. New fresh tears stained his cheeks once more and dripped down to his shirt. Drowsiness slowly came over him. His eyelids gradually came to a close as he bobbed his head up and down to keep himself from falling asleep. The plus side was that he could no longer see that he was in the middle of a land where death and despair lived.
A piece of a memory sprang up of when he was at the Half Vongola Ring Battles. It was strange that he could remember it so well. Then again, it would be stranger if he couldn't since it wasn't something you could go on living and forget that easily.
It was the last battle to end everything, the Sky battle between Tsuna and the Varia boss Xanxus. Right before it could start, all of his and Xanxus' guardians were set up at designated points depending on what their ring was. Each guardian's ring was placed on a tower, and whoever could get the ring first could cure themselves of the poison that they received prior to the battle. Tsuna wanted to stop everything, but the Cervello pink-haired girls prohibited him from going after his friends. Even now, he could hear those words that one of them had said.
"Because the sky is the mission of the boss. The sun, lightning, storm, rain, mist, cloud. He influences all of them. He understands and accepts all of them. That is the sky's mission."
Tsuna wrapped his arms tighter around himself. He understood he was the sky. He tried to take care of his guardians as best as he could even if he wasn't trying to half the time.
They all just came to him. His Storm would cling to his side no matter what. His Rain would be there to calm everyone down. His Sun was there to brighten anyone's day up. His Cloud would do whatever he wanted to do because he never listened to anyone unless someone would fight him. His Mist, though there were two of them, would come at times when something serious was going on. His Lightning, the youngest and most annoying one of them all, was there to cause trouble and make life more difficult then it usually was. All of these combined were troublesome to deal with sometimes, but Tsuna had fun.
The brunet began to smile more and look forward to each day even if he had to deal with Reborn and everyone's antics. Before he had met any of them, before he had been shaping up to be the Vongola Decimo, he was the loser in the school. Everyone made fun of him because he was useless at everything. Math, science, history, literature, sports, you name it. If a team lost and he was a part of said team, they blamed it all on him and left him to clean the fields by himself. He was occasionally bullied whenever he trespassed upon a certain gang's territory, and the boy had zero to nil experience in fighting.
Whenever he tripped or fell, there was no hand to help him up. He never had any real friends. He never had any dreams. He didn't have much of anything. All he could ever do was run away. The only thing that kept him going to school was his small crush on the school's idol, which from retrospect, was pretty pathetic.
That is, until he met all his guardians. All the people he could call as his friends. Life became more meaningful, and he wouldn't have it any other way. He wanted to protect what he had, what he could keep. Those bonds were as essential to him as water and air. He couldn't live without any of them, but if he were still alone to this day, he wouldn't dare think of it. The 'what if's' should be left out. Tsuna just had to focus on what he had, what he as the sky held.
A smile graced his pale lips as he faced the sky.
Light was beginning to break through the darkness. Clouds were separating from each other and reverting back to the soft white that brought comfort to the teen. Tsuna's eyes widened at the sight of flower petals raining down. He looked around the area.
Everything the petals touched returned to life. The black trees that had previously not had an ounce of life were springing up, black chips of wood breaking off to reveal brown and pieces of white. Green leaves and flower buds appeared from each branch at a fast rate. The ground sprouted out with fluttering grass that reached up to Tsuna's ankles.
Tsuna stood up, mesmerized by the transformation of the world. Each petal created ripples like they were touching not the solid ground but water. When one petal came within arms reach, the brunet grabbed one and eyed it in curiosity. It was a sakura petal, the one that his cloud guardian, Hibari, hated. Just as Tsuna was about to let it go, the petal poofed into pink smoke. Upon reflex, the boy reeled back but still held the petal in his hand.
Well, what was the petal.
It had turned into some sort of flower that Tsuna had never seen before. He wasn't one for flowers, so he didn't know what the name of it was. Three petals shot out from the middle of the stem, each pure in the color of white. The flower itself had a green stem with a long spear-like leaf attached. It was bent a bit at the end, making the flower face down in a sort of bell shape. Strangely, it reminded him of snow, but he couldn't put his finger on why it would make him think that.
A gust of wind blew, making his hair sway back and forth. Eventually, a piece of his hair poked his eye, and he quickly yelped. While he rubbed his eye with the hand that wasn't holding the flower, trying to make the soreness go away, the bodies that were scattered before had disappeared. When he turned around in confusion, his eyes landed on every person surrounding him, replacing the dead bodies. They were all smiling. Their mouths were moving but no words were uttered. Only silence.
"Everyone…" Tsuna chuckled, tightening his grip on his single flower to his chest. He tilted his head up and closed his eyes. He felt dizzy and could feel himself tumbling back. He didn't care though.
There was always hope. The sky wasn't to give up. Everyone was counting on him, and even though there was a lot of pressure on him, he could do it. With or without them, he could feel all the support they had given him.
Primo was the sky to his own famiglia, too. So were Uni, Byakuran, Dino, and all the Vongola bosses before him. They all went through something that only they could go through. Now, it was Tsuna's turn. It was time for the Decimo to shine. To be the sky that envelopes all. To have the Dying Will to take on everything. To be the hope that prevents everyone from getting hurt.
As the brunet fell back, feeling the ground collapse beneath him as he made contact with it, he let out a yawn on account of how tired he was starting to feel. So many things to do lay ahead of the brunet. A new adventure was to begin. Only one question plagued Tsuna's mind before he was consumed by the darkness of sleep, but deep within his heart, he already knew the answer.
If he held everything together as the sky's duty, what held the sky?
-2-7-
Giving hope and life to none but one,
In the rebirth of the sky, light shines forth.
Only the chosen may exceed the creators' expectations and limitations.
Together with comrades, ready yourself.
To fight for the dying will, attack.
Open the doors and run forward, never stopping to look back.
*Target Acquired*
Author's Note: What did you think of it so far? I hope it wasn't confusing, but if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.
This chapter went through many revisions with parts being taken out or added in, seeing as this is the first chapter, and I wanted to make it look good. It took a while to get it to be satisfactory, but there's always this feeling that I could've done better, you know? I think it lost some potency as it started to near the end, but hey, maybe it's just me being hard on myself or something.
The poems that you see at the beginning and end of the chapter (the ones in italics) have something in common. Can you guess what it is?
Again, leave a review, whether it be of hate or love, if you have time to do so because your input helps me as a writer and affects the path of this story. I have a couple of the next chapters planned out. All I have to do is put it into words, so wish me luck!
Also, happy belated birthday, Tsuna! Hope you had a wonderful time with your family and friends!
Oh and before I forget to ask, can anyone guess what flower Tsuna's petal turned into?
Anyway, thanks for reading and be sure to tune in next time in the next chapter, er, target!
*Next Target: Coming Storm*
