It has been a while. I said that there would be a sequel to Lost Sky. :D
Chapter 1: To protect him
"Reborn-san, is Juudaime home? He didn't go to school today." Gokudera asked Reborn when he went to the Tenth's house.
"Oh, he just fled to somewhere before the sun rose. He didn't even change his trip clothes." The baby replied while watching a movie in the living room.
"Trip? Did he go somewhere?" Gokudera inquired anxiously, wondering the reason why his boss hadn't told him anything.
"Yes. He asked me to arrange a quick trip to Russia for him. He wanted to talk with Boris."
Hayato frowned after hearing that name. "What did Juudaime have to talk with him?"
"I just arranged the trip and the encounter, Dame Tsuna asked me to stay here."
"WHAT? YOU JUST LET HIM GO ALONE?" Gokudera was now exasperated. Reborn glanced at the other calmly and said with resignation:
"There are times when a tutor has to let the student make his own decisions. When Dame Tsuna decides he's ready to tell what is bothering him, I'll hear him out."
Hayato left the house after hearing that. What's going on? Juudaime has been weird since that scary girl died and not even Reborn-san seems to be concerned! Why doesn't he talk to me? Why doesn't he trust me his problems? This is so frustrating!
Gokudera kicked a light post in his way. He couldn't comprehend the situation and the distress was nearly killing him.
I love him so much, why can't I do anything to cheer him up? I just want to help him, why won't he let me do it? Doesn't Juudaime like my company anymore? Did I offend him somehow? I just want to know what the problem is and fix it!
Meanwhile, Tsuna was training in a nearby small forest by himself. After hours of pushing his body to its extremes, he fell on the ground, defeated by the terrible fatigue.
"Is this how you deal with stress, Great Sky?" The cursed female voice whispered; the young man closed his eyes and covered both his ears. However, he could feel that person sitting next to him, as if she was in the real world. Catharina's manifestations had grown stronger with the time, not being limited to Tsuna's dreams anymore.
"You're not real, Catharina! You're just a hallucination!" Tsuna stated.
"You've been telling yourself this everyday for the past month and it didn't stop me to keep appearing for you. To think you even visited my coward brother just to hear that I'm part of your imagination hurts me."
"DON'T PLAY WITH ME!" Tsuna shouted. "YOU DIED! BORIS-SAN SAID THAT THERE WAS NO WAY YOU COULD RETURN AND UNTIL NOW YOU'VE JUST SHOWED YOURSELF TO ME AND DONE NOTHING! YOU'RE NOT REAL!"
"If I'm part of your imagination, then why won't you search for medical help to get rid of me?" Catharina asked mockingly.
"Nobody needs to worry about me. I'll become strong enough to deal with you and protect everybody."
"That's right. The more you increase the power gap between you and the others, the closest you'll get to me."
The boy felt Catharina's hand caress his face. It was a too realistic sensation for him to convince himself that it wasn't real. But he couldn't stop denying it. He couldn't allow himself to acknowledge the reminiscence of the threat that almost led Gokudera-kun to his death. As long he, Tsuna, was the only person affected by that, he was satisfied.
"It's all to protect your Gokudera-kun, isn't it?" Catharina questioned sweetly. "Don't worry, my only interest is you. Soon we'll be together forever and nobody will break us apart."
"VANISH!" Tsuna screamed, starting to cry. He no longer felt the girl's presence, so he opened his eyes and sat. His shaking body got wet by his heavy tears.
She's not real. Boris-san said so. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to make Gokudera-kun worried. I can deal with this by myself. Everything is alright with me. Gokudera-kun can be happy believing that there's nothing wrong at all.