Title: Sakura Addiction
Summary:
General: The Cloud lingers never in one place, but always remains within the vast folds of the limitless Sky. The Mist tickles the edge of the horizon, tracing that soul-stealing smile and testing whether or not it'll be punished for wanting, each time more and more, to hover just a bit longer. Each hesitant with these new but terrifyingly ever-lasting emotions, almost timidly reach towards the beautifully ephemeral, unbelievably gentle, and so agonizingly fragile warmth. In a small country in the east, the sakura remind two very distinct and yet very similar individuals of the greatest heart they'll ever know, the love and acceptance they'll forever receive from it, and the embrace of the man whose chest it resides in.
Hibari Side: Hauntingly ephemeral, abnormally gentle, and so preciously fragile: at one point or another in his life, Tsuna had seemed like one of these or another. So really, it wasn't Hibari's fault that he stopped hating sakura, (or the other predator encroaching on his territory through no fault of his own; blame that damned deviant of a Pineapple-Herbivore for twisting his pure perception of violent discipline with his perverse lust), it was just that the little flower seemed so much like his Omnivore...At this point, he couldn't help but be addicted to them both.
Mukuro Side: The skylark was entertaining, that much was obvious, so really he wasn't going to be the unlucky recipient of any blame for what had become of their little…arrangement. Once it didn't interfere with his plans to possess Sawada Tsunayoshi in any and all ways possible, it was perfectly acceptable to have the birdie flying in his field, especially if he dragged the bunny along to hop around for a spell too, (which was actually very likely since those two were getting friendlier with one another every day). The problem lay in the fact that the ever violent bird-brain was crossing all sorts of boundaries Mukuro didn't even know he had, led by the dauntingly ephemeral, frighteningly gentle, and so ridiculously fragile tuna fish.
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Inspiration/Prompt: Katekyo Hitman Reborn's Ending Theme of the same name.
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Main Pairing:
Current: Tsuna x Kyoko ~ (one-sided?), Hibari x Tsuna ~ (one-sided or pre-slash?), Mukuro x Tsuna ~ (one-sided or pre-slash?), Mukuro x Hibari ~ (definite slash, questionably romantic).
Eventual: Mukuro x Tsuna x Hibari ~ (requited), Tsuna x Kyoko.
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Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Yaoi.
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Warnings: Gore, Rape, Victimization, Violence.
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Rating: M
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Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
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Prologue I: Surrogate's Substitute
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"Tsu-kun, are you finished with breakfast?" The question carried as a petit young woman entered the kitchen of a modest home only to pause in the doorway at the sight that greeted her.
"Tsu-kun!" She exclaimed helplessly. Shock had changed the melodious voice as dismay raised it pitch, and at once she found herself bustling to clean up the mess at was once her immaculate workspace.
"Mou, Tsu-kun…!" A soft, dulcet voice chimed in scolding. "You're a big boy now; can't you eat properly?"
Dainty hands reached out, one to cradle a small, rounded left cheek as the other raised a damp washcloth to the cherub's stained face.
"Ma, ma, Nana!" Soothed Iemitsu cheerily. "It's only a bit of jam; it'll come off!"
"And you, Papa!" She cried promptly in reprimand, turning to frown at her grinning husband who, in his usual fashion was fondly recording the entire fiasco. "How could you just stand there and let Tsu-kun end up in this state? Go put the camera away this instant and then come and help me with this mess!"
But the Sawada patriarch just chuckled at her steadily deepening pout.
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"Mou, Lambo…" A soft, low voice scolded gently. "You're a big boy now; can't you sit still?"
Slender hands reached out, one to cradle a small, rounded left cheek as the other raised a damp washcloth to the child's blackened face.
"Ma, ma, Tsuna!" Yamamoto chimed in an attempt to pacify. "It's just a little soot; it'll wash off!"
"And you, Takeshi!" He admonished immediately, whirling to glare at one of his best friends who was grinning in that trademark goofy way of his. "How could you help Lambo reek havoc on the kitchen like this? It's a good thing that it was only a smoke bomb, or I'd have to call dad about repairs for the third time in a month! Again!" Huffing, he collected the various pink explosives from the counter top, with the firm command to: "Go put your bokken by the door right now and then come and help me with the food. Here, while your at it, take these and put them in the vault."
"Ha ha!" The taller teen laughed sheepishly, casually brushing the building annoyance in the other's tone off as he accepted the hand full of proffered grenades from the scowling brunet. "Sure, Tsuna. And um…sorry, you know how I get when it comes to baseball…"
"Well, since nothing was broken, it's fine," He sighed heavily as he straightened. "Just try to remember next time that not all small, vaguely spherical objects are projectiles meant to be thrown." At the raven's nod, the slighter continued with a hand on his hip and his left index pointed towards the stairs. "Good. Now stop wasting time and go hide those away before we have another accident."
"Juudaime!" Came the loud greeting from the genkan. "I have returned with the balloons!"
"And I brought fruit, Sawada!" A boisterous declaration was heard not a second later, followed by a feminine chorus of, 'good morning,' by three who called him "Tsu-kun," "Tsu-san" and "Bossu."
"We brought the cakes!" The two more outspoken of the trio added simultaneously proceeding the greeting. The third's girlish giggles of amusement rang out wonderfully after her response, "And other finger foods, too."
"Thanks!" He hollered back distractedly as he turned to I-Pin, who had come running into the kitchen just then with her hair dry, but otherwise in total disarray. Accustomed to it as it was her usual method of getting his attention on mornings, (since that was when Lambo was often particularly difficult), he simply led her to sit sideways on a chair at the table. Standing behind her as he got to work on shaping it into her signature style for the new day. It took no time at all to brush, (since it was so silky there were barely any knots to untangle), and, with all the practice he'd gotten in the last odd year, it was unimaginably effortless to divide down the centre vertically shortly thereafter –a big contrast to a certain Bovino's currently, somehow untameable nest of loose curls. A few, pleasant minutes of gentle tending later, he was finishing off the twin ponytails that sat proudly and perfectly spaced on either side of her head. Once he was done and had secured the ends with black elastics, he reached out to the carved wooden chest that he'd brought back from his last trip to Italy for his Little Beauty. Grabbing the pair of fuchsia, rose-shaped hair clips made of satin-covered platinum that matched her brightly coloured, denim shorts, he clipped one on each side before revealing his big surprize from the vast pocket of his mother's old, lacy apron that he'd been talked into wearing since she'd been hospitalized. At the sight of a solid gold hair comb decorated with an elaborate, three-dimensional depiction of a diamond-studded phoenix taking flight in a velvet box, Tsuna's princess squealed- all training cast aside in the face of her joy.
"Gégé!" She cried, awestruck, as she always was when given something. Her endearing habit of being so painfully surprized by any act of kindness she received touched her adoptive eldest brother's heart every time, and made him strive each day more and more to accustom her to being loved. Her gratitude was sweet and all, but he prayed that eventually she would come to see his attempts at care as a given.
"Like it, honey?" He inquired softly with a fond twinkle in his eyes, though her feelings were obvious.
"I love it!" She exclaimed before she could help herself, face alit with sheer delight before her expression abruptly contorted with confusion. "But…why?"
"Listen to me, I-Pin," He said as he skirted the chair she was sitting on so that he was in front of her. Kneeling so that they could look one another in the eye with ease. "Your Master and I have been speaking; we know that you've been looking into that prestigious School in Tokyo, and…"
He heard her breath hitch, and observed as she tensed, subconsciously shifting to a subtly defensive position right there in her seat. Seeking to comfort her, he took both of her smaller hands in his own and gave them a reassuring squeeze.
"We're glad," He chimed with a brilliant grin, head tilted to the left in a cheerful gesture.
"You are?" She inquired, utterly perplexed. After all, her talents were well-known and she supposed that everyone just expected her to follow along the path her infamous Master had started her on, straight into the matchless Vongola Decimo's elite ranks.
"Yeah, actually…I'd personally prefer it if you at least, could have a normal life," He continued, sweatdropping, before emphasizing, "one that has nothing to do with the bloody history of the path that I've chosen to succeed. Fong feels the same. We just want you to be happy after all- safe and sound, living an anonymous, leisurely life of repose on Vongola dime actually, if I had my way. But since what you wish for is something a lot more realistic, how could you possibly think that we'd deny you? If you wanna study there, I'll send you. It has faculty and infrastructure from kindergarten to high school, so you're free, I-Pin, free. Free to go whenever you think is best. All you have to do is tell me and we'll write your Master. A friend of his is a major shareholder and owes him big time, so you're a shoe-in whenever you're ready. Fong's only warnings are to keep up with your training so that you can defend yourself, and do your best, okay? We'll deal with the rest."
And as his liquid chocolate gaze warmed her to the core, all she could manage was a tearful nod and a nearly inaudible murmur of, "Thank you, Gégé…"
"Now," he chirped, sweeping his eyes across the gathered assembly of his most beloved people, and realizing the preparations were complete. "Are we all good to go?"
"Yes!" Came the chorused reply of confirmation.
"Are we sure?" He probed, casting his gaze on Lambo with a suspicious tingle running through him, curtesy of his Hyper Intuition.
"Yes!" The Bovino insisted.
He beamed, taking a hand from both raven-haired children in his own, "Alright then, off we go!"
'We're coming, Mama…'
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"Wait, Tsuna," The cow-child said as he stopped, fifteen minutes into their casual stroll and two streets down from their destination, digging his sneaker-clad feet into the path as he made a ridiculous request. "Lambo-san forgot to get the Ten Years Bazooka from the bathroom where he left it. We gotta go back for it now."
"Leave it," Tsuna ordered firmly, peering passively down at the fluffy hair. "I locked it up in the vault earlier because it causes complications and we can't have things going haywire today. Not when Kaa-san's finally coming back home."
"But Tsuna-Nii…!" The younger whined in protest. "Lambo-san hid the last of his grape candy in there too!"
"I said: no, Lambo," was the soft reply. To the miniature Lightning User however, it seemed merciless. "We'll be late if we go back now."
Crocodile tears built up at the corner of jade green eyes as the little boy began sniffling in a tell-tale manner, the moisture threatening to overflow onto milky cheeks.
"B-But-!"
"Lambo!" I-Pin yelled, clearly cross by the redundancy of dealing with the bull-headed boy. Honestly, every time they went out he forgot something! "We're not going back!"
"But without his candy," The other whimpered, "Lambo-san will die!"
"No you won't," She argued as Fuuta, who had been sweat dropping in exasperation beside her, face palmed at the youngest theatrics. "You're just spoilt!"
"Oh yeah?" He countered indignantly. "Well, Lambo-san thinks you're all mean!" He cried with a petulant stomp. "We have to go back and get Lambo-san's candy! Right, Tsuna-Nii?"
However, contrary to what the little Italian thought, the eldest was completely unmoved by the bratty display and thus was utterly unrepentant as he repeated his decision, "When I say, 'no,' I mean 'no,' Little Calf." Before the hysterics could start up, he compromised, or at least that's what he told himself. "But if you're good and wait a bit, I'll have Hayato take you to go get some grape candy in the convenience store a block from the hospital when we get there. Okay?"
Well, maybe he wasn't totally unmoved, but in his defence, such would require a heart of stone –which, clearly, he wasn't fortunate enough to possess.
Excited by the prospect of candy shopping, and at his favourite store to boot, Lambo agreed without a second thought. "Okay, but he won't share with either I-Pin or Fuuta!"
Stunned, I-Pin gasped, relapsing into the broken Japanese that was once her norm. "Lambo selfish!"
At that, Tsuna's strict façade nearly crumbled, and it was all he could do to maintain his composure. Pressing his knuckles to his lips, he fought harder as the others cracked up behind him at the continuing banter between his two youngest.
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"Hey, mom!" The jovial call echoed off the sterile space as Tsuna, completely accustomed to the lack of response by this point, released Lambo and I-Pin's hands and went about business as usual.
First things first, he walked up to the prone figure on the bed and pecked her atop her chocolate brown head. Entering behind him, the gang flooded in. Gokudera divided the armada of balloons and tied them down in all four corners. Haru and Kyoko rushed to the metal trolley and softened it with an ivory lace tablecloth, then set down the Dulce-de-Leche cake that Tsuna had baked and arranged the individual slices of different deserts they had bought around it. The fruit went on the shelf below with the drinks and basket of utensils. "It's finally the big day: they're pulling you out of that medicated coma Dad insisted on. I mean, your burns healed months ago; he's just procrastinating because he knows you'll have tons of questions he doesn't wanna answer when you wake up. But guess what? That's not all… Is it kids?"
"No!" the three children called simultaneously, bursting into giddy giggles at the end. It seemed that the idea that Mama was really coming home with them finally hit, and now the children were practically euphoric.
"It's Sunday, May 13th…!" He chirped as he threw open the curtains to the private room, to let in the glorious mid-morning sunlight. His mother loved the sun. "You know what that means, right?" He continued brightly, a teasing edge to his tone as he crossed over to her bed to fluff her pillows and pull the thick quilt further up over her pale form. Being careful of the many wires and trappings had become second nature even to the clumsy him, and he was gentle when he sat down beside her, brushing her bangs from her face. "It's Mother's Day 2018! The gang's all here, and guess what, we brought you flowers, and balloons…the girls even brought cake!" Taking a moment to survey her drawn but peaceful expression, Tsuna's eyes narrowed as he fully registered her temperature.
She was freezing.
They had his mother ice-cold like a god-forsaken gelato!
Reaching over to the bedside table closest to him, he grabbed the control for the AC and adjusted it so that it was warmer. How could the nurses have left it so high? How many times had he told them that she hated the cold? It made her think of that man because they'd met during winter. It reminded her of so many things in relation to him that while she rejoiced in the memories, she also recalled that he was never around. It made her remember the empty space in her bed, the vacant seat at their table, the crushing loneliness in her heart. Livid, as only thoughts of Sawada Iemitsu could make him, Tsuna fought for calm. He couldn't lose his head here. He'd frighten the children, worry his friends, and today wasn't about him. It was about his beautiful, silent mother, who lay scarily still on a hospital bed, unable to truly enjoy even the warmth of her family. Shaking off the scowl that had appeared on his face at the negligence, he decided to talk to the Head Nurse again and left it at that for now.
"Her hair has gotten longer," Kyoko commented absently over his shoulder.
"Yeah…" He breathed distantly, caressing the ends of his own hair, and hers, comparing the texture and length. Looks like it was time they both had a trim. "Haru, could you?" he requested, turning to meet her gaze over his left shoulder. "Please," He implored. "I can't trust a regular stylist with her, and you've got the most practice with women thanks to all these years of snipping your own."
"Sure," she accepted with a hopeful expression. She was so flattered that her pulse was triple its regular pace, and her mind was filling her with dozens of possible places this little sign could lead. But no, her better sense warned her. Tsuna only trusted her because they were friends. Very good friends, to be true, but just friends none the less. Before she could stop herself, however, her mouth was offering, "Want me to do yours too? I mean, I know Kyoko has had more practice with guys thanks to her brother, but if you'd let me, I'd like to try."
Blinking in surprize for a few seconds, it was all too soon when Tsuna's countenance gentled, eyes softening, expression fond as he gave her that luminous smile.
"Thank you, Haru," he whispered tenderly.
Her heart soared.
Then, in the same breath, he turned to the share that same smile with Kyoko, stopping her fantasizes in their tracks.
Swallowing passed the knot in her throat, she rearranged the single slices of designer treats into columns on either side of Tsuna's to distract herself from the tightening in her chest. Dividing them by type, then pairing them off by flavour, she lined them up with their apexes pointing in the opposite direction to their mate, forever at odds, never seeing one another eye to eye. This left red velvet, white chocolate, dark chocolate and mocha point in one direction, and pink champagne, vanilla, pistachio, and caramel aimed in the next. The former on the left, with the single serving, six-inch rectangular torts: orange, lemon, coconut, and pineapple, along with apple, strawberry, blueberry and raspberry, and cherry and blackcurrant, on the right. Unsatisfied, she fussed with the details of the coupling over and over until it was once again exactly as she'd first organized it in monotonous dejection.
'Ah well,' she reflected as she finished. What else did she expect? Tsuna hadn't ever taken her confessions seriously, and now, with him having to take care of everything at home while his mother was devastatingly unable, romance was possibly not even on his mind.
'-and rightly so!' She defended, all while knowing that though she admired him all the more for it, it still hurt.
By this point, Lambo had left with Gokudera to procure more grape candy. Having been warned sternly as Tsuna could, which wasn't as impressive as the older hoped, to behave himself and try and not get on Hayato's nerves. In turn, Gokudera had been asked to 'go easy' on Lambo, and oh, could he grab a couple gumballs for Fuuta, and a few lollipops for I-Pin? She liked the flat, bright red ones. That took the silverette out of the room just in time for Nana Sawada's attending, Vongola hired physician to enter and deliver the worst news possible.
She was going to wake up, not now, not ever.
She couldn't.
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