I present to you, 'Of whispers, hugs and rainbows'
warning: spoilers about the arcobalenos and slightly AU
disclaimer:I do not own KHR or any of its characters. I merely own the idea.
He was like the wind. He came and left as he pleased. They remember nothing but a whisper but at the oddest of moments, that whisper changed their lives, gave them strength and pushed them forward. They remember nothing but a whisper.
Luce was the first to meet him, she had been cleaning the house and lo and behold, she found him sleeping. She knew at once who he was, as she knew about the arcobaleno's curse. He was confused when he awoke, alternating from fear, confusion and relief. Luce had asked him to stay with the intent of comforting about his present and future and his current unintended journey into the past. She didn't expect to pour her heart out to him. She told him about the other arcobalenos, about their curse, about her curse. He never commented once throughout, he had listened with his sympathetic brown eyes and sad smiles. He left after a week. She had asked where he was going but all he said was
"I'm looking for a rainbow."
She had been pleasantly surprised when he hugged her without warning before leaving. She had missed such warmth and then he whispered
"Never regret"
He left never telling her his name. She didn't need it. And later, when she is turned into a helpless baby, she had wanted to apologise to the rest for never telling them even though she knew about it, wanted to do something about the guilt. But then she remembers his whisper and she holds her head high. Because she does not regret keeping it a secret, it was her choice and she regrets nothing.
She is the only one to remember him fully and they never meet again.
Skull meets him by accident. He is, once again, doing stunts and he notices a boy watching him intently. Distracted, he falls and is injured. The boy looks distraught and approaches him.
"Are you okay?"
"Of course! The almighty Skull from Hell is always okay!"
"…but you're injured….I know! Bring me to your house and I'll bandage it up for you."
Skull knows he shouldn't bring random strangers home with him but the kid didn't look like he wanted to kill Skull so he brings him home. He hands the boy the first aid kit and let's his injury be treated. The boy surprises him once again by sticking a plaster on each of his cheeks before nodding. He beams at Skull and gives back the first aid kit.
"What are those for? There are no injuries there!"
The boy merely lunges at him and hugs him. Skull freezes. He has never been hugged before and it makes him feel all warm and fuzzy despite the fact that the kid could easily stick a knife into his back.
"You are courage itself."
The boy steps away and runs out of Skull's house. Skull awakes from his daze and rushes after the boy. He is gone. And Skull realizes that he has never gotten the boy's name. When Skull is later turned into an arcobaleno baby, he wants to cry and end it all, he wants to curl up into a ball and die but then he remembers the whisper and he tells himself that he is the almighty Skull who is courage himself. And he manages to live a while longer.
Many years later, he wonders why warmth blooms in his heart whenever he sees Dame-Tsuna.
Fon is surprised when he walks into his house only to be greeted by a boy waiting for him. He is rather alarmed but his intuition tells him that the boy is not a threat. His intuition is reliable so he acts like a good host and makes some tea. He sits in front of the boy and offers tea.
"Thank you. You should get an apprentice one day."
Fon raises his eyebrows but says nothing. He finishes his tea and waits for the boy to finish. He is however, shocked when the boy places his cup down and leans over the table to hug Fon. Vaguely, Fon wonders if this is what they call a secret admirer or was it stalker? He is dragged out of his musings by a whisper.
"Hate is not becoming."
The boy leaves quickly and Fon never finds out his name. Later, when he is a baby and can no longer eat Mapo Tofu, he pretends that he is choking and crying on the spiciness and not the overwhelming hate that is too much for his infant body. Because hate is not becoming, so he turns it into calm instead.
When he finally meets Sawada Tsunayoshi, he cannot help but agree with his intuition that he is a very forgiving and kind boy indeed.
Verde has never expected his secret base to be found by a mere boy. Much less be asked by if said boy could stay for a while. And since Verde has been surprised, he agrees. The boy does not talk much and stays for three days. Before he leaves, he asks Verde
"Have you ever hugged anyone before?"
The boy spreads his arms open and beams at Verde. Verde is flabbergasted, no one, he means no one has ever asked Him to hug anyone. And once again, Verde is curious so he hugs the odd boy. He does not expect it to feel so comfortable and…right.
"You are not science."
The boy abruptly ends the hug and disappears in to the cold rainy night. Verde is shocked that he has never gotten the boy's name. Later, as he feels himself being turned from an adult into a baby, he tells himself that it is all in the name of science but he feels no better. And so he heeds the strange boy's advice and tells himself that it is for his own purposes and wants. Oddly enough, he feels better.
He still can't figure out why he feels like hugging Sawada Tsunayoshi every time they meet.
Viper has never met anyone as rude as the boy. The boy decides to sit in the seat opposite his on the rare day Viper has decided to eat in a café. The boy just seats there smiling and finally Viper gets up to leave. The boy follows and to his mortification, hugs him in the middle of the street, in broad daylight!
"Money can't buy everything."
Viper never wants to know the boy's name and when he has become a baby. He knows the boy is right. Money can't buy back his body. He hates the fact that the boy is right. It is irksome.
Till this day, he takes out his anger with the boy on Dame-Tsuna. His prices are always five percent higher than usual.
Colonello and Lal Mirch are very creeped out by the smiling boy that watches them as they train. It is the fifth day he has watched them and they can do nothing about it because he is causing no ruckus. They both decide that he is stalking them. Until one day he walks up to them and hugs them.
"Love does not always conquer all."
It sounds ominous and his voice is sad. They never see him again. Later as Colonello fails to protect the woman he loves, he remembers that whisper. Much later, when Colonello is dead, Lal Mirch holds the cold blue pacifier and wishes that the boy had been wrong.
Neither Colonello nor Lal Mirch can shake the feeling of uneasiness whenever they are near the Vongola Decimo. They always feel watched.
The ground is a crimson field and bodies stacked upon bodies litter it. Reborn stands in the middle of it all.
"Who is it? Come out."
He can sense someone there but he does not expect a boy to run through the blood and dead bodies and to hug him tight. The boy presses his face into Reborn's blood soaked suit and Reborn can barely hear what he is saying.
"Everyone has potential."
The boy reluctantly steps back and gives Reborn a heart wrenching smile. Once again, the boy runs through the field of death and disappears.
Many years later, he decides to take on the pathetic Dino Chiavarone and train him into the Bucking horse Dino he is now known as. He decides to go to Japan to try and find the long lost potential in Dame-Tsuna.
He cannot shake of the feeling that those brown eyes know too much and are oh so familiar. He cannot help but feel that his Dame-ness is not so much natural but calculated. And he can never shake off the feeling that if he were covered in blood, Tsuna wouldn't even flinch. He wonders if Tsuna likes hugs.
They remember him not, not his appearance, not his eyes and not even his smile. All they remember is a warm, loving hug and a whisper that changed their lives.
~fin~
I hope you have enjoyed the story. Please review!