Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Alliance
The sky was painted red and black by endless flames that kept eating the hoarse screams of humanity. It rung with the click-clack of worn dulled boots that had splashes of mud and blood, much like the red staining hundreds of cotton shirts. It smelled of heavy gas, the same coming out of those rifles, and of wilting lilies whose petals fell towards the soaked ground. The wind whistled in ears as it pushed past throbbing arms and legs and caressed the pale face of the unmoving.
He hurriedly swiped his red thumb across his right cheek to desperately stop the crimson flowing to his mouth where he tasted bitter copper. In contrast, his left cheek only had a generous amount of mud that barely hid the soft lavender tattoo of triangles on his rough, sweating cheek.
"Not again," Byakuran rasped as he buried his desire to choke on the intruding red, the red that never escaped his vision even when he closed his eyes. "Not this world too."
His throbbing knee that was visible by his tattered pants met the ground as his shoulders sagged, before his head violently jerked back to the sky, to the sun, and to the fire. "Damn it."
Byakuran sat upright on the foam bed with tossed silken blankets that lay haphazardly on the floor. There was no open wound on his right cheek and no mud on his left cheek. However, there was blood coating the inside of his mouth as his teeth bit into his tongue, but his distant mind numbed the pain. He glanced to his right to see the digits of the clock imprint themselves in his mind. "Six-thirty."
"Byakuran-sama. It's rare for you to forget lunch." Byakuran's hand paused as his pen dropped to the wooden table, resulting in a soft clack. He moistened his lips as he looked up to see a bowl of steaming clam chowder with a cup of green tea.
"Ah, Kikyo. I was about to go to the kitchen." He forced a smile on to his lips, but it was only a small lift. His eyes occasionally traced the steam to the chunks of potato and clam poking out of the milk-colored soup.
"It's four in the afternoon," Kikyo replied while moving his arms to fold in front of his chest. "Did you have another dream?"
Kikyo received his answer by the twitch from Byakuran's lips. "It wasn't a dream. It's a memory from a parallel world." A sigh escaped Kikyo's lips as he looked away. "I'm sure it is. I don't know what my parallel self tried to fix, but it's something I need to know."
"If you say so, Byakuran-sama." Kikyo bowed once before slipping out of the room. Byakuran tilted his head to his desk and noticed the chowder never looked as unappetizing as it did now.
"Stop it! I'm trying to help you!" He pushed his voice out of his constricting throat as if a snake tried squeezing it completely shut to see his face turn pale like the lilies that fed the fire in front of him. "I know what you will suffer. That's why I've done everything I can to stop you from experiencing that pain!"
His words died before it reached anyone's ears. Then he received a rough push from behind as the crowd continued to shout profanities and continued to desperately throw objects at him, so he would experience the same pain as them. No one paid attention to the pleas that left his mouth, only to the fire that spat burnt petals at his face.
"Remember what I always told you! It's too powerful for you to handle!" His back felt a final push and he joined the lilies in their death.
Byakuran fervently reached towards his bag of marshmallows before placing a dozen in his mouth until all of them were eaten. His hands twitched when he found none left and ripped the bag before dropping the pieces in the trash bin. His fingers tapped against his desk for a minute. Then his fingernails scratched against the wooden surface. He always turned to marshmallows to calm him after the dreams that left him restless. It was rare to not have an extra bag to drive away the crawling insanity.
"Byakuran. I have a bag of marshmallows for you." Bluebell poked her head into the office with the bag covering her face. "It's a deluxe size."
Byakuran's fingers stopped their track on his desk in favor of reaching towards the bag. "Thank you Bluebell." He hurriedly ripped the bag open and gratefully grabbed a handful to eat. "How about I bring you to the amusement park tomorrow?"
"Buu, Kikyo says you have a meeting with someone tomorrow," Bluebell replied with a pout. "But we can go after."
"Sure, but who am I meeting with tomorrow?" Byakuran asked as he slipped another marshmallow into his mouth, feeling the reins of sanity back in his grasp.
"It's the Giglio Nero. Zakuro gave me their file." The folder landed on his desk before Bluebell headed towards the door. "Don't forget about the amusement park."
Byakuran picked up the folder and scanned the first page. "Hmm, a child? I wonder how this Yuni-chan is like."
The books shined with slick kerosene under the moon that barely peeked past the clouds of gray and black. Byakuran stood a meter away with his hand outstretched, holding something hidden in the darkness. Suddenly, orange and red lit the space around his hand that soon met the kerosene, producing brighter, warm colors.
He turned around and took off when he heard the distant sirens as a smile slipped its way on to his face. "Knowledge is too much power for everyone to handle. I know this more than anyone else."
He heard the shouts of firemen, but it sounded like whispers. The flames looked like a firefly. He picked up his pace as his desire to head home and watch his actions on the news increased. There would be a report about the thirty fireflies he created.
"Because I know how much harm knowledge can bring, it's my responsibility to prevent anyone from being destroyed by it."
"Byakuran-san, Yuni-san is ready to see you." He glanced at his right to see Kikyo give him a nod before facing forward and following the man to the meeting room. At the moment, he longed for the meeting to end, so he would fulfill his promise to Bluebell while buying a pack of marshmallows to calm his mind from the effects of the dream.
When he entered the room, he was greeted with a warm smile from a young child who had a flower-like emblem on her left cheek that was also on the large hat on her head. To her right was a man with blond hair who shot suspicious glances at his every move. "You must be Byakuran-san and Kikyo-san. My name is Yuni and this Gamma." Byakuran bowed his head towards the two and sat at the table on the side opposite of them with Kikyo on his right. "This meeting is to form an alliance between the Giglio Nero and Gesso Famiglias. I hope we'll meet a consensus."
Throughout the meeting, he paid attention to every shift of paper, every soft creak of the chairs, and every tick of the clock to distract his restless mind. Kikyo spoke a few words before Gamma added in his opinion. Yuni spoke her thoughts and Byakuran joined in, although he did not recall what he said. Two hours later, Yuni suggested for a short break.
"Byakuran-san, I heard you liked sweets so I had the cooks prepare some marshmallows. I hope they're to your liking," Yuni said as a bowl was placed in front of him.
"Thank you, Yuni-chan. Marshmallows are actually my favorite," Byakuran replied before beginning to chew one. He offered some to Yuni who politely declined.
"Byakuran-san, I would like to speak to you in private, but I'm not forcing anyone to leave," Yuni said. Gamma quickly moved his head to Yuni with confusion in his eyes. Kikyo looked at Byakuran who seemed to be the only one calm.
"I don't mind. Kikyo, you should try to bond with Gamma-kun while we talk." Kikyo glanced between the two bosses before reluctantly standing up. Yuni turned her head to Gamma and whispered something in his ear before he let out a reluctant sigh. When the room only consisted of the two bosses, Byakuran spoke. "So Yuni-chan, what did you want to talk about?"
"It's about your visions." His teeth stopped chewing on the sweet as he stared at Yuni, mind going blank. "Okaa-san wanted to make an alliance with the Gesso before she died because she had a vision about you. She knew you would develop the abilities to look into parallel worlds."
"Is that why you wanted to make an alliance with the Gesso?" He received a nod. "But why would you do that? Are you going to use this stupid ability to your advantage?"
"That's not it," Yuni replied as her eyes softened in concern. "Every generation there is someone who can look beyond our world and into parallel worlds. That power is a huge responsibility that has left people turning insane and suicidal. I want to prevent that from happening to you."
"What can you do about it? If you told any doctor, they would think you're crazy. Even Kikyo thinks I'm delusional," Byakuran said as his voice began to rise into a higher pitch. "I will continue to have the memories of my parallel selves and end up being influenced by whatever they're trying to achieve."
"The Giglio Nero has the ability to stop that from happening. I have the Mare ring, which is given to the one with your ability. It allows you to control the memories. Think of it like a dam; the water is the memories and the dam is the ring. You control the dam to stop the water from flowing or you can allow the water to continue its course."
"But the memories..." Byakuran began. He silently watched Yuni leave her seat to head towards him to give an embrace. He felt his voice get trapped in his throat.
"What did the memories say?" Yuni quietly asked, waiting patiently for Byakuran to calm down.
"In one memory, wars erupted because people gained too much knowledge. In the next one, I died from the people who were angry at me from trying to save them from it. Today, I had a memory of burning libraries to stop the harm of knowledge."
Suddenly, the embrace became tighter and Byakuran looked down to see Yuni's face buried into his shirt. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not saving your parallel selves. They've seen too many memories. They've lived in too many wars. But now, I will help you if you let me. Please, I don't want you to live in anymore memories."
"Why do you care so much?" Byakuran questioned, ready to leave her embrace if she spoke the wrong words. Yuni looked up to give Byakuran another smile.
"I know how you feel; I've seen visions of the future. Unlike you, I have no hope of being able to control it," Yuni said. "I already know how I'm going to die, so I want to help you before experiencing the same fate as okaa-san."
He looked at Yuni's blue eyes that were like the colors of the passing clouds in the setting sun that only had five more minutes before the moon had the sky to itself. Her eyes held a pure sincerity that only a child held. But she is a child. His eyes widened minutely as his mind took a step back to examine the girl again. Yuni was only a young child, but she was mature beyond her years. She, too, was affected by unwelcome visions.
"Alright. I, Byakuran, agree to the alliance of the Gesso and the Giglio Nero Famiglias."
A/N: I got this idea after I read The Allegory of the Cave and a passage of Fahrenheit 451. Both seem to discuss about knowledge, and I thought it would be interesting if the Mare ring was able to control the memories. Also, I just fell in love with the vivid descriptions and figurative language in Fahrenheit 451 that it helped me gain the motivation to write. Anyway, I hope you like it.