Title: A Tale from a Firefighter
Genre: Romance/General
Ratings: K+
Pairings: 8059
Summary: Yamamoto had received countless thanks from people that he had saved, but why it sounds different when it came from this one person?
Disclaimer: Akira Amano owns Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Author's Note: This fic is written for KHR Romance Writing Contest! *music note* It's in here: http://forum(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/forum/KHR_Romance_Writing_Contest/68359/ Thanks for costae for the original idea!
At three o'clock, an emergency call was received in Namimori Firefighter Headquarter. A luxurious, grand apartment in the outskirt was set ablaze. Black smokes soared to the sky and the location could easily be spotted from faraway, due to its tremendous fire. For a firefighter, facing flames, hysterical screams, and suffocating smokes is something that they getting used to.
Yamamoto was a firefighter. He was one of those firefighters that were sent to extinguish the fire. The fire engine's siren that he drove made Namimori's traffic which was a bit stuck became slightly clear because all cars gave them a way through.
The siren kept roaring, until he stopped the car before the burning apartment. Helped by his friends, Yamamoto pulled a fire hose from its place, and then sprayed the soap-mixed liquid on the blazing parts of the apartment.
"Yamamoto! There was still one person on the second floor! You must save him now!" the captain of the team who had come earlier commanded at Yamamoto.
"Aye, captain!" Yamamoto handed over the hose to his friends.
"Be careful!" they warned him.
Yamamoto nodded reassuringly. Once he was ready, the black haired man ran through the smoking door that welcomed him. Doors began to collapse, burned. Hot ceilings fell, but he managed to avoid them so far. Once he arrived to the second floor, a huge fire wall had waited for him. It seemed that it was impossible for him to pass through. However, his desire to save the victim was stronger than the fire's silent threats.
Yamamoto took a deep breath, filled his lungs with as much as oxygen as he could get then he bated his breaths. He took few steps backward, then with all his might running through the gigantic flames. Once he was on the second floor's corridor, he coughed. He felt a bit relieved. At least he had managed to pass the first obstacle. The smoke that he inhaled was ignored completely.
Coughing, Yamamoto looked at his surroundings. He started to search for the mentioned victim. He even called out for the person, hoping that he would hear and reply. On the edge of the corridor where he stood right now, on his right side was a door that was opened slightly. That door was the last place which he would venture into. He was sure that the mentioned victim was inside. He walked inside. Everything in the room was covered with black smokes. His sight was a bit disturbed by this, so he waved his hands before his face.
"Hey! Is there anyone inside?!" he shouted.
And there was sound of cough, replying the call.
Yamamoto looked at the source of voice. There, at the corner of the room, he saw a silver haired man—though it was very dirty now, thanks to the smokes. He sat next to his bed, hugging something with white color. Yamamoto approached him quickly. He lifted the weakened body, checking his condition. That guy looks very awful—several strands of his hair were burned, he had a hard time trying to breath for fresh air, but he was definitely still alive. Yamamoto's attention was caught to the thing in the victim's embrace. It was a cat. A dead, white cat. Yamamoto pulled out a respirator from his pocket, trying to help the man that he found to breath.
After he received the small aid from Yamamoto, he coughed. Yamamoto was relieved. That guy has chances to stay alive. He placed the victim's arm to his shoulder, helped him to walk.
"Can you walk?" Yamamoto asked.
The other male's nodded. When they was about to leave the room, the dead cat fell to the ground.
"Uri!" the victim yelled. He tried to take the cat along with him, but Yamamoto held him back.
"Just leave the cat!"
"No!" the silver haired man let go off Yamamoto. He bent down and carried his dead cat. "I don't want to leave without Uri!"
Yamamoto sighed. He had no choice but to let that person took his cat along. He then helped him to walk again. The smokes went wild. They were thicker than before, and they made the two males have problems seeing the clear path. The collapsed ceilings made it even worse.
Yamamoto looked around. There was no escape. Meanwhile, he was exhausted and the silver haired man next to him was almost fainted. Neck or nought, he kicked away anything that blocked their path. Before they went downstairs, he decided to carry the victim on his back. He ran through the stairs. He almost tripped because the thickened smokes and the additional weight on his back.
Once he came out from the burning building, he was welcomed with cheers and relieved sighs from his friends. Yamamoto's heart beat twice faster. His adrenaline raced from the suspense that was just happened to him.
"Thank you."
Yamamoto was startled. The words came from the man who rested on his back. For some reason, his voice sounds very beautiful in Yamamoto's ears, and it made his heart beat even faster. He could felt his cheeks heightened in color, and feelings of something warm and heart-calming filled his chest.
"Thanks God, you're safe," he whispered to the weak guy.
Immediately, the medical team from hospital helped them. The silver haired man and his dead cat were taken to the ambulance. Yamamoto himself decided not to have any special treatments. He sat on one of the ambulances that were a bit far from the area, watching the victim left to be nursed in the nearest hospital. Once he felt better, he helped his friends again. The fire was finally extinguished after five whole hours.
He had returned to his house now, after went back to headquarter and reporting along with his friends. Yamamoto immediately took a bath and dipped into the bath tub. His mind was still lingering on the incident that day—mainly about the victim that he saved.
"Thank you."
Those words were replayed again and again in Yamamoto's head. He received countless thanks from people that he had saved, but why it sounds different when it came from this one person? When he decided to get some sleep, it wasn't only the words that disturbed him, but also the image of the man and the cat in his embrace. At three o'clock in the morning, Yamamoto finally managed to sleep soundly.
The next morning…
"Hey, good morning!"
"Hey, Yamamoto!"
"Haiz…the incident yesterday is sooo tiring!" Yamamoto sighed as he changed his clothes.
"Yeah, right…The total of killed victims reached fifty people. That's a lot."
Yamamoto was a bit surprised to hear about it, but another friend of his decided to join into the conversation. "Hey, Yamamoto, did you hear?"
"Hmm…? Hear about what?" he asked.
"The victim that you rescued yesterday."
"What's about him? Did he get healthier now?"
"Uhm…actually, he was one of those fifty people."
Yamamoto's eyes were widened in horror upon hearing the information. "You…you're kidding, right?"
"Because his lungs were broken since the very start, added that he inhale too much smokes, he finally exhaled his last breath at three o'clock this morning," that friend of his sighed, "He had such poor luck. I heard he didn't have any relatives and lived alone with his cat, which was dead earlier."
"There was none that came to his burial. There was only a priest and a gravedigger, along with me and captain."
Yamamoto turned around. He didn't want to hear anymore saddening information about that guy. But it seemed his friend didn't realize his intention and kept talking.
"Oh, that's right. Here, Yamamoto," one of his friends patted his shoulder and handed over a brown wallet to him. "I found this on that guy's pocket. I just thinking that maybe you want to see it."
Yamamoto just accepted the wallet silently.
"Well, then! I have works now. I think you should hurry up too."
"Wait! Where did he was buried at?"
"At Namimori's Public Funeral."
At night, in Namimori's Public Funeral.
Yamamoto was wearing black shirt and held a bouquet of flower in his right hand. He opened the wallet that he received before. There were some money, ID card, credit cards, and a photo. A picture of the victim and his cat, Uri. The victim smiling face was very beautiful, and his hair was tied lowly with several stands framed his face. He took the photo and read the handwriting behind it.
Gokudera Hayato and Uri. December 4th, 2000.
As a firefighter, Yamamoto had witnessed the death of victims so many times, but, again, it felt different. He felt his heart sank when he learned of Gokudera's death. He returned the photo to its original place. He looked down to the newly-made mound before him. Written on the gravestone were Gokudera Hayato and Uri. He leaned over, put down the bouquet of flowers on the earth.
"If just we meat sooner, Gokudera," Yamamoto whispered. He closed his eyes. He felt very sad as he recalled Gokudera's smiling face and his expression when they met at the burning apartment.
"Thank you, Yamamoto."
Yamamoto gasped and opened his eyes. He saw the image of that silver haired male, hugging his cat and smiled at him. The white cat meowed. Slowly, their image started to disappear. The black haired guy let out a happy sigh and returned the smile.
"Rest in peace…Gokudera and Uri…"
Ever since then, he would visit Gokudera and Uri's grave every year, on that day—December 4th.